Trinamul workers snatch leader from cops

A windowpane of Digha police station broken allegedly by the Trinamul activists on Wednesday; Sushanta Patra, (below) the leader who was snatched from the police station. (Jahangir Badsa)

Tamluk, Sept. 7: Around 500 Trinamul workers allegedly stormed a police station in Digha early today and snatched a party leader arrested on the charge of extortion, the operation apparently overseen by the accused’s wife who is the local panchayat chief.

Sushanta Patra, 42, a former chief of the Padima gram panchayat under which Digha falls, was arrested around midnight after a hotelier lodged a complaint of extortion against him with East Midnapore police chief Ashok Prasad and forwarded a copy of it to chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

“Sushanta was arrested following instructions from the director-general of police,” an officer said.

He said the Trinamul workers, including Sushanta’s wife and panchayat chief Gitarani, barged into Digha police station around 1am, slapped some of the 10 personnel and broke windowpanes with sticks.

“We were completing some paperwork related to Sushanta’s arrest when the mob attacked us. We tried to take him to the lock-up but the mob pushed and assaulted us. We were heavily outnumbered. The attackers snatched the Trinamul leader away,” the officer said.

Additional police superintendent Utpal Naskar arrived from Contai with a big force a few hours later and arrested seven Trinamul workers and supporters in night-long raids. Sushanta is absconding.

The police said the seven persons had been charged with attempt to murder and taking away an arrested person.

“Sushanta was arrested on the charge of extorting money from a hotel owner in Digha. But his supporters attacked the police and took him away,” Prasad said.

Several hotel owners in Digha alleged Sushanta used to extort money regularly and intimidate them.

“The Padima panchayat is controlled by Trinamul since 2003. Sushanta was the pradhan till 2008. After the seat was reserved for women, his wife contested the 2008 panchayat polls and won the seat. If someone has to open a hotel in Digha, he or she has to take Sushanta’s permission. He and his supporters extort money from us every month,” a hotel owner said.

Aparup Kundu, whose police complaint led to the Trinamul leader’s arrest, said: “For the past five years, I was forced to pay money to Sushanta. But when I refused to pay following a higher demand by the leader, he asked his supporters to lock my hotel on May 3.

“I lodged a complaint with the police but they did not take any action against Sushanta. The police, however, opened the lock after six days. After Trinamul won the Assembly polls, Sushanta asked for more money. His goons regularly came to my hotel and threatened my employees after I refused to pay. Sushanta also called me up and threatened me.”

Kundu, who lives in south Calcutta, lodged a complaint with the East Midnapore police chief late last month and forwarded a copy of it to the chief minister.

Many hotel owners alleged that Sushanta’s arm-twisting tactics did not stop even after Mamata asked entrepreneurs on August 21 at a Salt Lake event not to pay money to anybody demanding cash in Trinamul’s name.

A hotel owner said: “We paid up because we did not want to antagonise a leader of the ruling party.”

Sushanta’s wife Gitarani claimed Kundu had brought false charges against her husband. “My husband has been implicated. Kundu had borrowed money from my husband. My husband locked up his hotel after he refused to repay his debts,” she said.

Gitarani, 38, denied the allegations of the attack on the police and claimed her husband was “released” after she “furnished the documents that proved he had lent money to Kundu”.