New Delhi: West Bengal Congress spokesperson Kaustav Bagchi was arrested on Saturday morning from his residence for his alleged comments against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a senior police officer said, as reported by the news agency PTI.
A huge team of the city's Burtolla police station conducted a raid at Bagchi's residence at Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal at around 3.30 AM and arrested him, he said. According to PTI, after the arrest, Bagchi was brought to Burtolla Police Station even as party workers staged a protest outside the police station.
Following his comments on CM Banerjee, a complaint was lodged against Bagchi at Burtolla police station on Friday. "We have arrested Kaustav Bagchi from his residence in Barrackpore. We cannot talk much about it. Our officers are talking to him," the officer told PTI.
Bagchi has been booked under several sections of the IPC including 120(B) (criminal conspiracy), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), and other sections, he further said.
Bagchi, a lawyer had reacted sharply and allegedly criticised the CM and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee for her "personal attacks" on West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury after the Congress' win in the Sagardighi bypolls.
The bypoll for the Assembly seat was held on Monday. The bye-election to the Sagardighi Assembly seat was necessitated following the death of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Subrata Saha in December 2022.
The Congress secured a seat in the present West Bengal assembly as its candidate Bayron Biswas won the Sagardighi bypoll, defeating the nearest rival of the TMC by 22,986 votes. After 16 rounds of counting, Biswas, who enjoys the support of the Left, bagged 87,667 votes, according to the Election Commission (EC) website.
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