Five BJP workers injured after bike-borne men hurl bombs at them in Bengal’s Panihati

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

Kolkata, May 7 (IANS) At least five BJP workers were injured after crude bombs were hurled at them in the Panihati area of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, said police on Thursday.

This attack happened hours after the ghastly murder of Chandranath Rath, long-time personal assistant of Suvendu Adhikari.

The police said the incident took place after midnight on Dutta Road in Ward No. 2 of Panihati Municipality.

It is learned that some BJP workers were talking to the common people when several miscreants came to the spot on a bike. Eyewitnesses claimed that four people on the bikes hurled bombs at the BJP workers there.

Three bombs were hurled in succession, following which the miscreants fled. Five BJP workers were seriously injured in the bombing.

The incident created a lot of tension in the area. The injured were taken to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in critical condition. They are reportedly undergoing treatment there.

Upon receiving the news, officers of the Khardah police station reached the spot. Central forces also reached there. They brought the situation under control and conducted patrolling in the area.

The Khardah police have started investigating the incident. CCTV footage of the area was being examined, and a search has been started to find the miscreants.

While reacting to the Madhyagram incident, Suvendu Adhikari also talked about the bombing in Khardah. In his words, “The politics of revenge has been going on in the state for 15 years. This is the result of 15 years of Maha Jungle Raj. Last night, there was a bombing in Khardah, and BJP workers were shot in Basirhat. Those responsible for the violence will not be spared.”

The BJP has accused Trinamool Congress of carrying out the bombing in Panihati, which is about 7 kilometres from Madhyamgram, where Adhikari’s personnel assistant was shot dead by assailants as he was on his way home.

It has been alleged that miscreants affiliated with Trinamool carried out the bombing. However, Trinamool Congress has not made any official comment on the incident. Since the West Bengal Assembly elections results were declared on May 4, reports of post-poll violence have been coming from across the state. In some incidents, Trinamool Congress workers were beaten up, their party offices were vandalised, and party posters were destroyed. In some places, BJP workers were targeted, with many sustaining injuries. The police have said that strong action would be initiated against those who would indulge in such activities.

–IANS

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Pronouncing the judgment, a Bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and Prasanna B. Varale said that the prosecution material disclosed a prima facie case against Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, thereby attracting the statutory bar to bail under Section 43D(5) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

At this juncture, the Justice Kumar-led Bench observed that the prosecution evidence and other material “does not justify their enlargement on bail”, adding that the record suggested their involvement at the level of planning, mobilisation and issuance of strategic directions.

However, the apex court granted bail to Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa-ur-Rehman, Mohd Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmed, all of whom have been in custody for more than five years.

The Justice Kumar-led Bench said it was necessary to examine each bail application independently, since the record disclosed that the appellants did not all stand on equal footing with respect to culpability.

“The hierarchy of participation requires the court to assess each application individually,” the Supreme Court said, holding that Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam stood on a qualitatively different footing as compared to the other accused.

Earlier, on December 10, the Supreme Court had reserved its verdict on the batch of special leave petitions (SLPs) challenging the Delhi High Court’s refusal to grant bail to the accused in the 2020 riots “larger conspiracy” case.

Opposing the bail pleas, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Delhi Police, had contended that the violence was not a spontaneous communal clash but a “well-designed, well-crafted, orchestrated and preplanned” attack on the sovereignty of the nation.

“This was not a spontaneous act of violence; this was an attack against the sovereignty of the nation,” the SG had argued, relying on speeches, WhatsApp chats and other material to claim a “clear and discernible attempt to divide the society on communal lines”.

He had argued that the delay in the trial proceedings was attributable to the accused since they were “not cooperating” and “each of them argued for 4-5 days for opposing framing of charges”.

“Now, in all cases where it’s difficult to defend on facts, the mechanism is to delay the trial and not to go into the merits and say ‘give me bail’. This has become a pattern,” SG Mehta added.

In September 2025, the Delhi High Court had dismissed the bail pleas of Khalid, Imam and several other accused in the case, observing that a prima facie case under the UAPA was made out against them.

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ED curbs tenure of special director Satyabrata Kumar, orders repatriation

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This decision marks the end of Kumar’s extended tenure at the ED, where he has served for over eleven years. Kumar, a 2004-batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Indirect Taxes), initially joined the ED in 2013 as a Joint Director in Mumbai.

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His tenure at the ED has been marked by significant contributions to financial crime investigations, and his departure signals a shift in the agency’s leadership structure.

The government’s decision to repatriate him underscores the evolving priorities within the enforcement framework, as new leadership takes charge of on-going investigations.

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“At this time of crisis, we all must come forward and help,” she urged.

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