Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, on Tuesday met governor C.V. Ananda Bose and urged him to ensure the arrest of those suspected of assaulting BJP workers at Canning East in South 24-Parganas on Sunday.
Adhikari also requested Bose to visit the residence of Shantanu Ghorai, a BJP worker, at Pingla in East Midnapore, who had allegedly been murdered by Trinamul Congress workers.
“More than 20 BJP workers have been brutally attacked and assaulted by Trinamul goons. The condition of three of them is serious and they are admitted to a hospital in Calcutta,” Adhikari told journalists outside Raj Bhavan on Tuesday evening.
The BJP leader said he wanted to meet the new DGP Sanjoy Mukherjee but the officer was unavailable.
“I met CEO (chief electoral officer) Aariz Aftab and asked him to send a team to Canning but he did not. So, I have no option left but to plead with the governor for justice.”
In a post on X on Sunday, Adhikari alleged that Hossain Sheikh, a trusted associate of Canning East MLA Saokat Molla, was responsible for the alleged attack on the BJP workers.
“In the NHRC report on post-poll violence in Bengal, there was a reference to 19 goons and three of them — Jyoti Priya Mallick, Shahjahan Seikh and Kesto (Anubrata) Mondal — are in jail. But 16 of them are still moving around freely. We want all of them to be arrested,” the leader of the Opposition said on Tuesday.
Adhikari claimed BJP worker Ghorai had been murdered but police were trying to show it as a case of accident.
“At first, the police declined to accept the FIR. It was only after protests that the complaint was registered. Today, the police posted on their X platform that the death was caused by drowning. The body was discovered on a paddy field and how can this be classified as a drowning case?” Adhikari asked.
Adhikari, who was flanked by BJP leaders Sisir Bajoria and Jagannath Chattopadhyay, said they had requested the governor to visit Ghorai’s residence.
“The governor has promised to visit and will do whatever necessary to safeguard the interest of the family after MCC (model code of conduct) is withdrawn,” Adhikari said.
