Three men were arrested on Friday for allegedly assaulting and intimidating Kasba resident Moti Kumar Singh, who had apparently drawn their ire by engaging masons by himself to repair the boundary wall of his plot.
Police said Shyamal Biswas, the prime accused, was arrested from Laskarhat in Kasba. Based on his statements, Barka Das and Sujit Naskar were picked up.
“The accused were involved in the assault on Singh and his elder brother Jyoti on Thursday morning,” said a senior officer at Kasba police station.
“They have been arrested for alleged extortion, assault, threat and theft of construction materials. The trio, in their mid-30s, are residents of Kasba.”
An officer of Kasba police station said Biswas had told them that he had gone to the plot, which he claimed was owned by family, because Singh was trying to occupy it illegally.
On Friday, a senior official of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) visited the plot following a letter from the police asking the civic body to verify the ownership status of the property.
“We have sent details of the plot to the KMDA to know about the original nature of the land — whether it was a water body, an agricultural land or a vaastu land meant for residential purposes,” said a senior civic official.
Singh said on Friday he could prove with documents that his family had been paying tax for the plot since his father had bought it over two decades back.
“We have all the necessary papers, including tax receipts for the land, the mutation certificate, the clearance of the land and land reforms department and even a sanctioned building plan from the KMC,” Singh said.
Asked about Biswas’s allegation about the ownership of the plot, a police officer said: “A complaint alleging illegal occupation doesn’t empower anyone to assault or threaten a person.”
Around 7.30am on Thursday a group of men had assaulted Singh and his elder brother when they were overseeing the repair of the wall around the 4-cottah plot in Laskarhat. The assaulters allegedly asked Singh why they were not informed about the repairs.
“The police have said they will be around to ensure no further disruption takes place when we resume repair of the boundary wall. We will talk to them and fix a new date for the construction,” Singh said.