BDO beaten up by Trinamool activists in Bengal

A Block Development Officer (BDO) in West Bengal was allegedly beaten up in his office by a Trinamool Congress leader and his aides in the state's North 24 Parganas district, a source close to the BDO office said on Friday.

Sources said Kaushik Bhattacharya, the BDO of North 24 Pargans district's Sandeshkhali-2 was allegedly attacked by local Trinamool leader and Bermajur village Panchayat Pradhan Siddiq Mollah and his supporters on Thursday afternoon.

Following the incident, Sarkar had to be admitted to Basirhat Superspecialty Hospital with injuries on his head and arms. His body guard and a few staffers in the BDO office were also beaten up.

Sources in Sarkar's office said he had to face the wrath of the states ruling party as he identified some discrepancies by the local leaders in the 'Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana' scheme and informed the higher authorities.

"Yesterday a group of 15-20 people led my Mollah entered my office and started protesting. I did not ask them to leave immediately as I knew most of them and thought the issues will be sorted out through discussions but the situation got heated up," Sarkar said lying on the hospital bed.

"Mollah slapped me while his supporters badly beat up some of my subordinates in front of me. My security guard was also harassed at gun point. Then they attacked me," he said, adding that he will not compromise with the wrong doers at any cost.

--IANS

mgr/ssp