West Bengal: 12 arrested in connection with 'sadhus assault' brought to Raghunathpur Sub-Divisional Court

Twelve people who were arrested in connection with the assault on three Sadhus (ascetics) in West Bengal's Purulia were brought to the Raghunathpur Sub-Divisional Court in the district on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Purulia Superintendent of Police (SP), Avijit Banerjee said that 12 people have been arrested in connection with the case of assault of sadhus and a case has been registered.

"A case has been initiated on the complaint by the Sadhus. 12 people have been arrested so far and an investigation is underway. We have taken some people into police custody for further investigation," the SP said.

Banerjee said that the police provided the Sadhus with all possible help and their vehicle was repaired.

"When police received the information, they rushed to the spot. The Police provided the Sadhus with all possible assistance. The vandalised vehicle was repaired," he said.

Narrating the incident, the SP said the whole incident took place owing to a misunderstanding with three girls as they failed to failure to understand their language.

"Three Sadhus were going in a vehicle towards Chakna near Kasipur road. Near Gourangdih, three girls were heading to a local Kali mandir for pooja when the car stopped near them and the Sadhus asked them something. Due to some language issues, some misunderstandings happened and the girls thought that the Sadhus were following them. So they created a hue and cry. The local public came and took the Sadhus near Durga Mandir and vandalised their car. The Sadhus were also manhandled. When police received the information, they rusehd to the spot," the SP said.

The Purulia Police issued a statement on the incident saying that facts are being "misrepresented" by "certain quarters" about the incident.

"Facts are being misrepresented from certain quarters about a recent incident in Purulia. The fact is, on 11.01.24 afternoon, there was a misunderstanding between three Gangasagar-bound Sadhus with three local minor girls near Kashipur over language problem. The girls got scared and local people manhandled the Sadhus and damaged their vehicle, alleging a kidnapping attempt. Local police promptly intervened and rescued the Sadhus. 12 people have been arrested over the incident on the basis of a specific case. All possible assistance was rendered to the sadhus," the statement read.

One of the Sadhus said that their car was stopped by a large mob suddenly and then they were assaulted. 

"While we were on our way to Gangasagar, suddenly our car was stopped by a large mob that assaulted us and vandalised our car," Madhur Goswami, one of the sadhus said.

Speaking on the number of people who attacked them, Goswami said, "Around 200-300 people attacked us. We were knocked unconscious."

On the allegations by the girls, he said, "No nothing like that happened. They came to apologise. We said that maybe we had erred somewhere that we had to face this."

Earlier in the day, BJP MP Jyotirmay Singh Mahato met the Sadhus who were assaulted by the mob in Purulia. Mahato claimed that one, Sheikh Anwar was behind the incident and he had assembled the villagers seeing the sadhus's saffron attire.

"This incident has a shadow of Maharashtra's Palghar. If this incident is probed some big names might come out. The one who caused this incident is someone named Sheikh Anwar. I got this information from local sources. When he saw that they were in saffron, he created a stir among villagers and assembled them," Mahato claimed.

The BJP leader also alleged that the police has tried to cover up the incident."When police got a hint that this incident may lead to a different route, they tried to cover it up. At night when they (sadhus) were about to sleep, they (locals) tried to make them (sadhus) run away from the rear door. I rescued them and brought them here. Tomorrow we will see them off to Gangasagar," he claimed.

"A Trinamool leader has tweeted about this incident. He has alleged that these Sadhus are BJP's agents and trafficks women. We have registered a complaint against him," he added.

Meanwhile, TMC leader Shashi Panja said that the BJP in Purulia is trying to misrepresent the facts of the incident. The TMC leader said that the locals claimed that the sadhus were on their way to kidnap three local girls from their village.

"However, BJP in Purulia is trying to misrepresent the incident which had happened in Purulia on January 11. There were three Sadhus under Kashipur police station in Purulia. The locals beat up the three sadhus because their allegation is that sadhus were kidnapping three local girls from the village. Local people reacted and rescued the girls. Police took sadhus to the police station. An investigation is on, but BJP leaders in Purulia are trying to misrepresent and malign the whole incident," Panja said.