Mamata pulls up cops over Bhangor deaths

A day after two people died due to bullet injuries in Bhangor, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday pulled up senior officials to find out why the situation took a turn for the worse.

The police, who refuted reports of opening fire on a mob of unarmed protesters, put the blame on “outsiders”, stating that the movement is being spearheaded by Maoists.
The police submitted a report to the state government, accusing Maoists and a group of around 40 Jadavpur University students of turning the peaceful agitation into a violent outburst.

Within hours, Mamata backed the theory, with a tweet blaming “outsiders”.
Bhangor has been on sporadic boil over land acquisition since 2013 after 13 acres were acquired to set up a power sub-station for the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited.
The agitation, which has been going on for months, took a violent turn on Monday night after the police picked up Sheikh Kalu, leader of the agitation.

Though there are no visuals of officers opening fire on Tuesday, locals claimed that police bullets injured two of the protesters, who died later in the night at a government hospital.

The police report stated that Maoists and some Maoist-led students have been camping at Bhangor for the past two months to organise the agitation.

Political insiders acknowledged that a conglomeration of fringe ultra-Left outfits have been backing the movement.

A government source admitted that the situation could turn messy since Mamata has ordered the police to apprehend those behind the agitation.