A crowd blocked former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s convoy in North 24 Parganas and threw mud and shoes at her vehicle on Sunday afternoon while she was on her way to meet the family of a Trinamool Congress worker who died in police custody, The Indian Express reported.

The crowd shouted “thief” and repeatedly thumped on the bonnet and windscreen of Banerjee’s car, forcing the convoy to slow down and stop several times before the police managed to clear a passage through the crowd.

Banerjee was seated in the front of the car. Trinamool Congress MPs Kalyan Banerjee and Dola Sen and party youth wing leader Upasana Chowdhury were also in the vehicle. Her security personnel and police were part of the convoy.

Banerjee alleged that “large stones” were also thrown at her vehicles despite the presence of police, ANI reported.

“If the windows had been open, my head would have been split open,” the Trinamool Congress chief said. “We could have all been killed…the police are providing protection to the Bharatiya Janata Party.”

She alleged that the attack was a “well-planned conspiracy” by the BJP to confine her to her home because the party feared her, The Telegraph reported. She blamed Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who holds the home department, for the attack.

The incident was the latest in a series of attacks on TMC leaders since the BJP came to power in West Bengal on May 4.

TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee was attacked by a mob with eggs and stones during a visit to Sonarpur on May 30. Party MP Kalyan Banerjee alleged the next day that he was also attacked in the Hooghly district. On July 1, vegetables and eggs were hurled at a TMC office in West Bengal’s Krishnanagar while Moitra was inside.

On Sunday, while the BJP condemned the attack on Banerjee, saying that it did not endorse violence, Adhikari defended the police and accused the former chief minister of playing politics. He said the police had done their job.

State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said throwing stones and physical assault did not represent the party’s culture.

“Anyone can raise slogans against the former CM or the current CM too,” The Indian Express quoted Bhattacharya as saying. “Black flags can be waved in protest, these are all part of democracy. The TMC has done so many atrocities and yet the BJP doesn’t support throwing shoes at a woman and former CM. No BJP supporter can be part of this.”

Custodial death

Banerjee was travelling to Halisahar to meet the family of TMC worker Jenny Sharma Keot, who died in police custody on Saturday.

Halisahar police had arrested Keot on Friday on charges of extortion, financial fraud and under the Arms Act. He was produced before the Barrackpore court, which remanded him to police custody for five days.

He fell ill in the lockup early on Saturday and was declared dead after being taken to the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Hospital in Kalyani. His family has alleged that he was physically tortured and assaulted in custody, alleging that there were visible injury marks and bleeding from his ears.

The police have ordered an investigation into the allegations. Barrackpore police chief Amit Kumar Singh said the exact cause of death was being investigated. Senior police officials said CCTV footage from the police station was being reviewed and that the autopsy had been videographed to establish the sequence of events.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

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