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Published : 31 May 2026, 06:32 PM
A political visit to West Bengal's Sonarpur has spiralled into chaos as Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee has been allegedly attacked by a crowd, prompting overnight police raids that led to five arrests, NDTV reports.
Abhishek was visiting Sonarpur in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, it added.
The arrests were made during overnight raids based on video footage collected from the area, a senior police officer said on Sunday.
Banerjee, a member of parliament from Diamond Harbour, came under attack on Saturday when scores of people hurled stones, eggs and abuses at him in Sonarpur town, NDTV said.
He was reportedly seen leaving the area wearing a cricket helmet and assisted by his aides.
The Trinamool Congress leader had gone to visit victims of post-poll violence.
Following the incident, he alleged that activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had attempted to kill him.
Unidentified people reportedly scuffled with Banerjee and roughed him up while chanting "thief, thief".
According to NDTV, the situation quickly descended into chaos, with some members of the crowd allegedly attempting to physically assault him by raining blows and kicks.
Security personnel intervened and brought the situation under control.
Police registered a case suo motu as neither Banerjee nor the Trinamool Congress had filed a formal complaint as of Sunday, an officer said.
The five arrested suspects are due to be produced before a court in Baruipur.
Banerjee was later briefly admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata and discharged after receiving primary medical attention.
Reacting to the incident, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee blamed the BJP.
"RULERS BECAME KILLERS- shame on you BJP!" she wrote on X.
Mamata, accompanied by senior party leaders Firhad Hakim and Derek O'Brien, also visited the hospital where Abhishek had been admitted.
Condemning the attack, BJP West Bengal President Samik Bhattacharya said such incidents were undesirable in a healthy and normal society, while maintaining that his party had no involvement.
"The BJP is not involved in such activities. But what happened could be the outcome of the anger of locals who were tortured over the years," Bhattacharya said.
