Actor-BJP leader Roopa Ganguly was arrested on Thursday morning, almost 14 hours after she went to Bansdroni police station and plonked herself there demanding the release of a party activist arrested for allegedly manhandling cops and accusing the police of shielding those responsible for the death of a 15-year-old boy.

Class IX student Soumyo Sil was hit by the arm of a payloader on a cratered road while he was on his way to tuition around 7am on Wednesday.

On Wednesday night, five persons were arrested, including BJP activist Ruby Mondal, on charges of manhandling the police and preventing government servants from discharging duty.

The officer-in-charge of Patuli police station, Tirthankar Dey, was made to stand in a pool of slush for close to six hours on Wednesday after a mob turned violent following Soumyo’s death.

The police said the five arrested were among those who heckled the police officer.

Around 8pm on Wednesday, Ganguly reached Bansdroni police station with some BJP supporters, who held flags and shouted slogans alleging that the police had helped the payloader driver flee after the accident.

Calcutta’s police commissioner Manoj Verma told reporters: “Roopa Ganguly arrived at the police station and said the police should release those arrested without any condition. But they were arrested for manhandling the police.”

He added: “We told her that was not possible. If anyone has any issues, they can approach the court for relief. She sat on dharna and did not move despite repeated requests. So a case was registered against her and she was arrested.”

Ganguly told reporters on her way to the Alipore court: “I sat quietly inside the police station and did not come in the way of the working of police officers. I did not create hurdles.... This has been done without a reason.”

At the Alipore court, a lawyer appearing for the state said Ganguly tried to interfere in police work at Bansdroni police station through the night.

Ganguly’s lawyer argued that she was a political figure who had gone after five persons were arrested, including a BJP worker. Ganguly wanted to know why the police did not arrest the payloader driver, he said. “She ended up getting arrested.”

After hearing both sides, the judicial magistrate granted bail to Ganguly on a personal bond of ₹1,000.

The police said they had registered four FIRs in connection with the Bansdroni incident and started a probe into the student’s death and the lawlessness that followed.