Workers of BJP, TMC clash over 'Jai Shri Ram' chants, one injured in accidental firing by police

Clashes broke out between the workers of the BJP and the TMC allegedly over chanting of "Jai Shri Ram" at Gurap village in West Bengal's Hooghly district and one person was critically injured after being hit by a bullet fired accidentally from a police revolver, police said on Thursday.

The clashes broke out late Wednesday night and fresh violence was reported from the village on Thursday morning as well.

BJP workers, led by the party's state general secretary Raju Banerjee, allegedly attacked the Gurap police station, ransacked two police vehicles and put up a road blockade, demanding the arrest of the policeman who had reportedly fired from his service revolver, a senior district police official said.

The accidental firing took place at around 11.45 pm on Wednesday, when a police team had gone to Gurap in Dhaniakhali to bring the situation under control, following a complaint from the locals about a "tiff" between BJP and TMC workers, Hooghly Superintendent of Police (SP) Sukhendu Hira told PTI.

"Three-four police personnel had gone there and they were attacked by the people who tried to snatch their revolvers. It was then that a bullet got fired accidentally and hit a local named Joychand Mallick. There was no rally where Jai Shri Ram was chanted," he said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) later submitted a memorandum in connection with the incident, the SP added.

According to Banerjee, the injured person was a BJP member.

"Our men were participating in a victory rally on Wednesday and chanting Jai Shri Ram. They were blocked by TMC goons and when the police were informed, they did not act impartially. We demand that the police act impartially and arrest the policeman from whose revolver the firing took place," he said.

The BJP leader also threatened to scale up the agitation if no action was taken in 24 hours.

The victory rally was taken out to celebrate BJP's Locket Chatterjee winning the Hooghly seat in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls.

When contacted, Dhaniakhali's Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Asima Patra denied any involvement of the workers of her party in the incident, claiming that the clash was a result of an internal feud of the BJP.

A police picket was set up in the area and the situation was under control, the SP said.