A Kolkata Police officer, who was one among the many injured while on duty during the violent Nabanna march on Tuesday, is at risk of losing vision in his left eye, senior officers said.

The police said there were at least 35 others who suffered fractures or head injuries while trying to stop the protesters from breaking through cordons in their march towards the state secretariat demanding the resignation of chief minister Mamata
Banerjee.

Debasish Chakraborty, 37, the officer in charge of the cyber cell of the East division, was on duty on 11 Furlong Road on Tuesday.

“He has injuries on his retina and cornea. A minor surgical procedure has been conducted on him... There is a blood clot. Till the time the clot is removed, it would be difficult to get any clarity on the recovery of his vision,” said Indira Mukherjee, deputy commissioner (central) Kolkata police.

Chakraborty recalled the moment when a brick hit him in his eye.

“We were on duty on 11 Furlong Road when the instruction came that we had to move towards Strand Road. We were moving through Red Road. As our car was heading towards Eden Gardens, a few protesters started pelting us with stones. A brick smashed our car’s window screen and directly hit my left eye,” Chakraborty said on Wednesday.

The officer had started bleeding profusely. “I cannot see (with the left eye). I do not know if I will be able to see again,” he said.

Four more police personnel had to be admitted to the hospital.

Sergeant Sourav Saha, posted in the detective department received eye injuries, and constables Nabakumar Mondal and Ujjwal Dey Sarkar received injuries on the head and eye and head respectively. Homeguard Debasish Kundu was injured in his right eye.

The 31 others injured during the march were discharged after treatment.

A total of 147 people were arrested in connection with the violence on Tuesday.