West Bengal: Five more arrested in Parui OC attack; BJP leaders not allowed to enter village

Five more villagers were arrested in connection with the October 24 attack on the Officer-in-Charge of Parui police station in Birbhum district, taking the number of arrests to ten. The police said that all five were arrested last night.

Today a local court, where they were produced, sent two of them to police custody while three others were remanded to judicial custody. The Inspector-General (western range), Siddhinath Gupta, during the day went to meet the injured OC Prosenjit Datta at Suri Sadar Hospital. Meanwhile, a team of local BJP leaders was on Sunday stopped by the police from entering Chowmandalpur village where the attack took place on the ground of prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC being imposed there.

The team, led by district BJP chief Dudh Kumar Mondal, went to meet residents of the village who allegedly staged the attack. The police had gone there on a tip-off that bombs were being made there. "They were barred from entering into the village as the prohibitory orders under CrPC 144 were imposed in the village," Additional Superintendent of Police Ananda Roy said. Mondal, BJP team leader, alleged that the administration hurriedly imposed the prohibitory orders to prevent them from entering the village.

He said that BJP leaders would sit in a dharna in front of the office of Superintendent of Police at Suri soon.