A group of men walked up to a Kasba resident in south Kolkata on Thursday while he was engaging masons to repair the boundary wall on his plot in Laskarhat, and allegedly asked him why they had not been informed about the proposed repairs.
He was allegedly beaten up when he tried to reason with them.
Moti Kumar Singh, a resident of Kasba’s Dharmatala Road, alleged that four or five men arrived at his plot, off EM Bypass, around 7.30am and asked him whose permission he had taken to start the work.
“I told them that I have a sanctioned plan for a house and before constructing it, I wanted to repair the boundary wall. They kept asking why they were not informed about my plan,” Singh, who works as a tax consultant, told The Telegraph.
“I told them I was not doing anything illegal and put my foot down saying the construction would continue.”
The group that was joined by a few more men then allegedly assaulted him.
Singh’s elder brother Jyoti was allegedly attacked as well.
“They threatened me in foul language and told me they would cut me into pieces,” Singh wrote in his complaint lodged with Kasba police station.
Senior police officers said they had contacted the civic body to verify the ownership status of the plot.
Cops arranged for a medical test of Singh based on his complaint of assault.
“A case has been drawn up at Kasba police station on the basis of the complaint that was lodged. We have sought details about the land from the civic body,” said Awadhesh Pathak, deputy commissioner of police, south suburban division.
After Singh lodged the complaint, a preliminary inquiry about the incident was carried out in the afternoon. Some eyewitnesses said the clash was related to the ownership of the plot.
No one had been arrested till late on Thursday.
The FIR based on Singh’s complaint included charges of assault, extortion, theft and criminal intimidation against unknown persons.
“We have started collecting information based on the complainant’s statement about the men who had visited the plot,” said a senior officer of Kasba police station.
Thursday’s incident comes after chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s instruction to the police to firmly deal with complaints of alleged extortion and threats. During an interaction with police officers from all districts on Wednesday, Mamata said she was giving them a free hand to take action against those involved in such criminal activities.
“It’s a clear directive to all DMs, SPs and ICs. You don’t have to see (political) colours,” Mamata said.
Singh’s family members said his father had purchased the land in 1998 and had constructed a boundary wall on the plot.
Earlier this year, Singh said the two brothers put up a board saying the land measuring four cottahs belonged to Raj Narayan Singh, their father. In March, he said, Kolkata Municipal Corporation cleared his proposed building plan.
“Since the boundary wall was in a bad condition, I decided to repair it before starting the foundation work,” Singh said.
“Why should I seek permission from anyone? I have all my tax receipts, my mutation document and parchas (land receipts) in place. They possibly wanted me to pay an amount, which I could sense.”