Mobile phones of BJP MP S.S. Ahluwalia’s son and at least 47 others allegedly got stolen during the saffron party’s roadshow on Tuesday evening.

“In all, 48 mobile phones of our party workers, including that of Ramanjit Ahluwalia, the son of the BJP’s Burdwan-Durgapur MP, were stolen during the rally, so were wallets of some party workers,” said Amitabha Banerjee, a BJP leader in Durgapur.

The BJP held an induction fair (Yogdaan Mela) at the town’s Benachity, followed by the 4km rally from Prantika to Bhiringi. Ahluwalia and his son Ramanjit apart, Union minister Babul Supriyo, Trinamul turncoat Suvendu Adhikari and MPs Sunil Mondal and Arjun Singh took part in the rally of over 5,000 people.

BJP leaders claimed the police knew about pickpockets at the rally but did nothing.

Protesting against “police negligence” outside Durgapur A Zone police outpost, Banerjee said: “How can the police be so negligent about surveillance during a rally attended by a Union minister and three MPs? It is clear that a large group of pickpockets was present.”

The police have disclaimed any prior knowledge.

Trinamul leaders mocked the BJP. “It was a BJP rally, only their party workers were there. Who else but those in the rally would steal phones? We will tell people to be alert of BJP workers,” said Trinamul’s Uttam Mukherjee.

Supriyo had a similar experience during BJP leader Arun Jaitley’s funeral at Delhi’s Nigambodh Ghat in August 2019. Supriyo had then tweeted about his phone getting stolen at the funeral.