Kolkata Mayor's wife arrested, later released on bail

The estranged wife of city mayor Sovan Chatterjee was today arrested following his complaint that she was trying to barge into the flat where he has been staying for the last six months, the police said.

Claiming that the Mayor has been delaying signing papers for their daughters study abroad, his wife Ratna Chatterjee held a night-long demonstration in front of the flat in south Kolkata's Golpark area, they said.

Officers from Rabindra Sarobar Police Station, after receiving a complaint from Chatterjee, reached the flat and requested his wife to move out of the place.

"We received a call from the Mayor about the matter and went to the place and tried to convince Mrs Chatterjee. But, we failed in our attempt," a police officer said.

Parnasree Police Station officers also came to the Golpark residence to persuade his wife.

"In the morning, we took her to the police station where she was initially detained and then arrested as per the complaint of the Mayor. She was booked for continuing to assemble even after she was commanded to disperse," the officer from Rabindra Sarobar Police Station said.

The Mayor's wife was later released on bail, he added.

"If she (Ratna) has to get my signature on some papers, she could have reached me some time early, not at midnight," he said.

Chatterjee and his wife have been fighting a battle for divorce.