In dramatic turn of events, son of Union minister of state for shipping Mukul Roy and Trinamul Congress candidate from Bijpur Assembly constituency Subhrangshu Roy was arrested by the North 24 Parganas police from party chief Mamata Banerjee’s rally at Naihati on Sunday. While the Trinamul Congress said that his arrest was according to the law, the CPI(M) questioned why was he hiding.
“Absconding” over the past four days, Mr Roy is the prime accused in the FIR lodged on charges of attacking an Election Commission team during its visit to Bijpur on April 12. A non-bailable arrest warrant was pending against him. Surprisingly, Mr Roy, in an apparent move to surrender after being pushed on the backfoot amidst controversy, appeared before the public on Sunday afternoon when Ms Banerjee went to attend a rally at Mirabagan ground in Naihati in support of him and two other party candidates, Partha Bhowmik from Naihati and Arjun Singh from Bhatpara constituencies.
Present at the dais from the beginning of the rally at around 5 pm, Mr Roy was seen sitting in a row with Ms Banerjee and party MP and Union minister of state for health Dinesh Trivedi. A scarf bearing party colours hung around his neck as he looked composed. Addressing the packed rally, Ms Banerjee urged for votes for her three candidates, including Mr Roy. At around 6.10 pm, when the rally ended and she left the venue, couple of minutes later, Mr Roy walked down the dais to get into a car. Sub-divisional police officer (Barrackpore), North 24 Parganas, Ajoy Kumar Thakur, who was present at the venue with a heavy police force, arrested him.