Trinamool Congress's Soumitra Banerjee allegedly threatened to blow up a police station
A leader from the ruling Trinamool Congress has been arrested after he allegedly threatened to blow up a police station when cops tried to intervene during a students' protest in Burdwan district in West Bengal.
Soumitra Banerjee, Trinamool's Raniganj block unit and a member of the party's students' wing, allegedly threatened cops over the phone after a police van arrived at the Triveni Devi Bhalotia College where students, agitating over the online admission process, had surrounded the principal's office.
"I give you five minutes. If the OC (Officer in Charge) does not arrive in five minutes, I will set the vehicle ablaze. If he does not even arrive then, I will blow up the police station," Mr Banerjee was allegedly heard saying.
He also allegedly told the agitating students, "'Don't be scared of the police, they are government servants, they can't do anything."
The police have booked the Trinamool leader for obstructing public servants from discharging his duty. He will be produced in a court later today.
The students' wing of the Trinamool Congress suspended Mr Banerjee last evening following the incident, party leader V Shivdasan said.