Kolkata: Foreign-funded “Jamatis”, and not students, may have been behind the attacks on police personnel and journalists during Friday’s demonstration in Esplanade over the alleged NEET paper leak, CM Suvendu Adhikari said on Sunday. He clarified that neither Cockroach Janta Party members nor NEET protesters were involved in the attacks.Speaking to reporters in Nandigram after PM Nar-endra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat address, Adhikari said, “This force (those who threw shoes, sticks and water bottles at cops and assaulted journalists) could be sponsored by foreign powers. The investigators will be able to confirm that. Media persons were subjected to life-threatening attacks…
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None of them (the attackers) is a student. They are Jamati fundamentalists who want to weaken India and create unrest.”Kolkata Police has arrested 14 people, including three late on Saturday and early on Sunday, for their alleged involvement in the violence. The last three rounded up are Shahbaz Khan, 34, a cloth trader from Karaya; Mohammad Salman Hossain, 29, a cloth trader from Rajabagan in Garden Reach; and Mohammad Johiruddin Mal, 32, a resident of Bijoyganj in South 24 Parganas.Only five accused have political links, going by statements of their families. Two are Trinamool workers, two are CPM activists, while one is associated with Congress.Public prosecutor Tarak Pal said none of the accused is a student. At least four are habitual offenders with 16 charge sheets filed against them. One of the accused, Irfan Kurshed of Jorasanko, has as many as eight charge sheets pending against him. Another, identified as Imran Ahmed alias Gopi, has four and two others have two charge sheets each against them.Officers said one of the 14 accused is under investigation for his alleged role in vandalism at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital early on Aug 15, 2024, during the “Reclaim the Night” protest over the rape and murder of a young doctor.All 14 were on Sunday remanded in police custody for two days.“Initially, it was a rally organised by Cockroach (Janta) Party. Left groups later joined it. I thank those in Bengal who were part of the NEET rally, as they were not involved in this incident at all. They posted clarifications on social media… Kolkata Police and CP Ajay Nand have forwarded all details to me,” Adhikari said.“Over the past 10 weeks, the Bengal govt has taken firm decisions and enforced laws. This uncivilised behaviour stems from frustration over those actions. Investigations into the registration of Khariji madrasas has angered them. The implementation of the Calcutta High Court order on the cancellation of unauthorised OBC certificates has angered them. The 1950 Animal Slaughter Act has been enforced, which has angered them. They are also angry over restrictions on sound pollution. Those people went there to unleash chaos. They struck pictures of the PM and the CM with sticks,” the CM said.“Some people were holding the national flag upside down. None of them belongs to any genuine movement. Nor are they students. They are goons. Action will be taken against them under the anti-goonda cat,” he said.“We will suppress lawlessness by imposing the rule of law. Freedom of speech and democratic rights will be protected… There is always space for dialogue at all levels of the govt.”
