Trinamool Congress MLA Soham Chakraborty was caught on camera assaulting a cafe owner in New Town late on Friday.

CCTV footage that emerged on Saturday showed Chakraborty, an actor and the MLA from Chandipur in East Midnapore, holding Anirul Alam by his collar, slapping him and pushing him to the ground. He is then seen dragging Alam out as many other men surround the two.

The MLA was accused of threatening to shut down the business.

An officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said Alam had lodged a complaint against Chakraborty at Techno City police station.

Chakraborty apologised for his actions later in the day but what he said through the day amounted to trying to justify his assault.

The incident took place when the actor was shooting for a Bengali film at the rooftop cafe. The cafe is in a two-storeyed building that has other fast food joints and cafes on the ground floor, the officer said, quoting restaurant employees who the police had spoken to.

Trouble started over parking in front of the cafe, the officer said.

Manav Singla, deputy commissioner of police, New Town, said they have received complaints from Alam as well as Chakraborty. “We have started a probe into the incident and collected CCTV footage from the restaurant,” he said.

Chakraborty said he had gone to shoot for a film and was upstairs when he heard loud shouts from the front of the restaurant.

“I looked over the balcony and saw that the owner of the cafe and several others were abusing and hitting my security personnel and support staff. I rushed downstairs to find out what had happened and the owner shouted at me using foul language to move my vehicles. His abuses triggered me and I lost my cool and slapped him a few times,” said Chakraborty.

Alam denied abusing Chakraborty and said Chakraborty punched and kicked him. “He came here to shoot without taking any commercial deal. Despite that, we allowed him to shoot. There was a verbal altercation between the restaurant workers and his security personnel regarding parking,” Alam said.

“I had resolved the issue and was on my way into the restaurant when Chakraborty came and punched me in the face. He and his men also beat up my manager Dipankar and other staff. I pleaded with folded hands asking him not to beat me and listen to what happened. Instead, he said, ‘I will show you my clout’ and kicked me,” Alam alleged.

Chakraborty made an attempt to implicate Trinamool’s national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee in the assault case. He said he lost his cool after Alam started hurling abuses against Banerjee.

Chakraborty said: “I apologise for the fact that I lost my cool. I had tried to reason with them but the owner and his other employees continued to abuse me and Abhishek Banerjee. They punched my personal security officers. A human being is not a robot and we can only take so much. But I should not have lost my cool and I apologise.”

Alam said Chakraborty and “seven to eight men including his personal security officers” beat him up.

“Do you know who I am? I will shut down your business and see how you survive,’ he told me,” said Alam, nursing a black eye.

Alam said on Saturday afternoon, a team from Techno City police station came to cafe and asked his employees to sign a paper that did not have any allegations against Chakraborty. “They refused to do so,” Alam said.

A senior officer said they had no knowledge of this. “We will check on this,” the officer said.

Trinamool did not officially comment on Chakraborty’s assault. A party source said: “The mood in the party was conveyed to him and he (Chakraborty) was asked to apologise for his actions.”