Kolkata, Nov 15 (IANS) Imran Hasan, the Youth Trinamool Congress president of the Magrahat (Paschim) Assembly constituency in West Bengal, who was arrested earlier this month in connection with the attack on the convoy of then Bharatiya Janata Party national president J.P. Nadda in South 24 Parganas district on December 10, 2020, was paraded through the roads by the state police on Saturday night.
He was taken through the Usti area under Magrahat (Paschim) Assembly constituency in the Diamond Harbour subdivision of South 24 Parganas district, where the attack on the convoy of Nadda took place in 2020.
Hasan, known as a close associate of the Trinamool Congress general secretary and the party’s Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee, once struck terror in the area.
Hasan was arrested at Usti police station, under the Diamond Harbour Police District, from the Deula area on the intervening night of November 4 and November 5.
However, while being paraded through the roads in Usti on Saturday night, the local people were quite surprised by his behaviour. Most of the time, he walked with his head down and avoided eye contact with locals. At times, to onlookers’ surprise, he was also seen apologising with folded hands for his past misdeeds.
The police claimed that he was taken to Usti to recreate the crime scene of the attack on Nadda’s convoy in December 2020. Imran is currently in police custody.
Apart from the attack on Nadda’s convoy, Hasan is facing allegations of threatening voters ahead of the 2021 and 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, torturing BJP leaders and workers in Magrahat (Paschim), and vandalising the houses of leaders and workers associated with the BJP, the official said.
Hasan was the seventh person arrested in connection with the attack, which took place nearly six years ago. The police had earlier arrested six people: Tausif Ahmed Mollah alias Bachchu, Arif Hossain, Anisur Rahman, Sanjeev Mondal, Ripon Sheikh and Jahangir Khan.
Investigators are examining whether more people were involved in the incident, the district police official said.
Nadda, who was then the BJP’s national president, had visited Diamond Harbour in December 2020 as part of the party’s campaign ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections. The then West Bengal BJP president, Dilip Ghosh, was travelling in the same vehicle as Nadda.
The convoy came under attack twice while proceeding towards Diamond Harbour, first near Sarisha and then at Falta. The BJP had alleged that Trinamool Congress activists were behind the attacks.
BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, whose vehicle was part of the convoy, was injured in the incident.
The attack had triggered a political confrontation between the BJP and the ruling Trinamool Congress. The BJP had accused the state government of failing to ensure security for its leaders, while the Trinamool Congress had rejected the allegations.
–IANS
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