Police firing incidents are conspiracy: Mamata

Coming as they did within eight days of each other, the West Bengal government is raking up another conspiracy theory and exploring whether there were bad designs behind the police firing in Birbhum and Nadia this month. HT reports.

Coming as they did within eight days of each other, the West Bengal government is raking up another conspiracy theory and exploring whether there were bad designs behind the police firing in Birbhum and Nadia this month.

At a programme organised by the state police on Friday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said: "Some people are trying to create riots, which I will not tolerate. What would you have done if your house was attacked?"

State home secretary Basudeb Banerjee said at the state secretariat: "We have to see whether there was a conspiracy behind the recent violent incidents."

The home secretary also indicated that the government found something suspicious in the way video footage was available by noon on November 14, the day of the firing in Tehatta, Nadia, where a trader was killed and another person was injured.

"There will be a magisterial inquiry into all aspects. It will also look at the video footage."

On November 7, a day after the firing in Birbhum's Loba village, industry minister Partha Chatterjee visited the district and alleged that members of the CPI (M) and Congress were behind the developments that led to the violent confrontation between the locals and the police.

The state government has decided to transfer the officer-in-charge of the Tehatta police station. The family of the deceased will receive a compensation of Rs 2 lakh and a member of his family will be given a job.

In February, when a woman was raped in Park Street in Kolkata, the initial reaction of the state government was that the incident had been cooked up to give the administration a bad name.