Police on Friday arrested a BJP mandal committee president from Nadia’s Phulia allegedly for beating up a trader as he had refused to contribute to the party fund to organise a public meeting of party leader Suvendu Adhikari.
Trader and social activist Sujan Joardar lodged a complaint with Santipur police on Thursday against accused BJP leader Pradip Sarkar and his brother Sudip Sarkar, who along with some close aides, allegedly assaulted him on Wednesday night after he refused to shell out money to the party fund.
Acting on the complaint, Santipur police on Friday picked up Pradip from his home. He will be produced before the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Ranaghat on Saturday, police said.
Superintendent of police of Ranaghat police district, Kumar Sunny Raj, said the accused was arrested after the complaint was “found genuine”.
“The accused entered the house of a person and gave an extortion threat. He subsequently beat him up. We started a case of criminal trespass and extortion. A complaint was received and action has been taken. We investigated the allegation and it was found to be genuine,” the SP told The Telegraph.
However, Sudip, who is the brother of the BJP leader and a co-accused in the case, is absconding.
“We are also trying to arrest him,” the SP added.
On Wednesday, Joardar, 35, a resident of Belgoria village and owner of a battery factory, suffered facial injuries as BJP’s local mandal committee president Pradip and his brother Sudip allegedly thrashed him for refusing to donate to the BJP fund for the party’s “Meri Mati Meri Desh (my soil, my country)” programme.
Some BJP supporters rescued a bleeding Joardar from the clutches of the two siblings and took him to the local primary health centre for treatment. Joardar suffered grievous injuries in his face and a fracture in the nose. His lower jaw was also dislocated.
Minister and Trinamul spokesperson Sashi Panja condemned the incident and assured justice to the victim. She indirectly blamed Adhikari for the incident.
State BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar ordered an internal probe into the matter.
