New Delhi: A six-member ‘fact-finding’ team of an NGO, led by retired Patna High Court Justice L Narasimha Reddy, was stopped by the police from visiting the violence-hit areas of Hooghly district on Saturday, officials said.
Speaking to ANI, Narasimha Reddy said, "A six-member fact-finding team led by former Patna High Court Chief Justice Narasimha Reddy was stopped by the police from visiting the violence-hit Hooghly district."
"They (police) are saying that CrPC section 144 has been imposed but nothing is here. They are scared because they will be exposed," he added.
The 'fact-finding' team was stopped near Konnagar when the team was on their way to Serampore and Rishra as prohibitory orders were still imposed in the area, a police officer told PTI.
"We cannot allow people to visit these areas as prohibitory orders are still in place," he said.
The team is also scheduled to visit Shibpur in Howrah district on Sunday and also seeking to meet state Home Secretary BP Gopalika over the violence that rocked these areas during Ram Navami.
Earlier on Thursday, senior BJP leader Locket Chatterjee was stopped from visiting her Hooghly Lok Sabha constituency to attend Hanuman Jayanti celebrations due to prohibitory orders in the area.
Chatterjee sat on demonstration, alleging that she was called an “outsider by the police”.
She said, “The police stopped me though I am the local MP. I was invited to attend the Hanuman Jayanti programme there. But the police are asking me to go back. Why is an elected representative stopped from visiting her constituency?” The BJP leader started reading Hanuman Chalisa.
The development comes in the wake of a series of incidents of communal violence reported in Bengal's Howrah and Hooghly districts on the occasion of Ram Navami on March 30-April 1.
Subsequently, central forces were deployed in three districts of Hooghly, Barrackpore and Kolkata to assist the state police in maintaining law and order during Hanuman Jayanti celebrations.