Alipurduar Clash: TMC General Secretary Held After BJP Leader Beaten

Tensions between rival political camps in northern Bengal flared once again after a Trinamool Congress general secretary was taken into custody for allegedly thrashing a BJP leader. The confrontation began at a rural bank kiosk in Kamakhyaguri when the BJP worker sought help linking her account to government welfare transfers. According to the complaint, the kiosk operator’s father intervened, leading to an exchange of words that ended with physical assault. The victim sustained injuries requiring transfer from a primary health centre to the district hospital. Police acted swiftly on the written FIR and arrested the accused within hours. In a parallel development in Malda’s Chanchal subdivision, another BJP supporter, a practising lawyer, was attacked with sharp objects. Eyewitnesses say the assailants fled after locals intervened. The injured activist was stabilised at Chanchal hospital before being moved to Malda Medical College. He alleges the assault is revenge for a complaint he lodged months earlier concerning public harassment of a woman. Party workers responded by staging a road blockade, burning tyres and demanding immediate arrests. Security forces have since detained one individual, but senior officers say further probes are needed to establish the full chain of events.