Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday obliquely accused the BJP of trying to malign the image of Bengal after it emerged that one of the two incidents of stone-pelting at the Vande Bharat Express had purportedly occurred in Bihar.

“The vandalism of Vande Bharat Express did not take place in Bengal. The CCTV footage of Indian Railways shows that the incident took place in Bihar. There are some people whose job is to keep on insulting Bengal and the residents of the state. I condemn those who have been insulting us. We will find a solution to get rid of such fake information that is being circulated against Bengal,” Mamata said in Gangasagar.

Over the past few days, Bengal’s political arena had heated up because of the charges traded by the Trinamul Congress and the BJP in connection with the stone-pelting incidents on Monday and Tuesday.

While Trinamul alleged that the BJP had orchestrated the attacks, the latter raised questions over the state’s purported failure to ensure the safety of train passengers.

Mamata said people of the neighbouring state of Bihar might be angry as they, too, wanted a similar train.

“However, if a few people are upset about the democracy in our country, that doesn’t mean we can insult the entire state of Bihar. In fact, I believe the people of Bihar deserve a Vande Bharat Express. Just because the BJP is not in power there anymore, it doesn’t mean they should be vindictive and not provide such a train to the state,” the chief minister added.

The chief minister’s remark came shortly after the Eastern Railway issued video clips showing some persons standing near the railway tracks. The video, sources said, was captured by the CCTV camera that is fitted to the external portion of the semi-high-speed train’s engine.

Railway officials said the stones had been hurled at the train between Dhulbari and Mangurjan stations in the Kishanganj district of Bihar.

“The railways have identified the stone throwers and steps have been taken to identify them,” said Eklavya Chakraborty, the chief public relations officer of Eastern Railway.

Later in the day, police in Kishanganj have identified four boys, all minors, as suspected stone-pelters. Three of them have been detained.