Kolkata police speaks in different voices about case against anti-Mamata protesters

Suspense prevailed on Wednesday over whether the Kolkata police has registered an FIR against 150 "unidentified" people after a protest by Left students on Saturday against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The students had dubbed the meeting a "compromise" by Banerjee on livewire issues like the CAA and NRC. Banerjee, however, had insisted it was a "courtesy call". Immediately after meeting Modi she had joined the sit- in by the students' wing of her party. It was there she encountered the Left protest.

A reliable source told PTI and some other media organisations on Wednesday morning that an FIR was lodged against around 150 people over the protest against Banerjee. However, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Murlidhar Sharma said late Wednesday evening that no case has been lodged in connection with the incident. "There is no such case. This is an incorrect news," Sharma told PTI.

On Saturday, members of SFI, AISA, IC of Presidency University students unions chanting 'Azadi' and 'Shame Shame' broke three barricades put up near the stage of the dharna, not far from the Raj Bhavan, and demanded explanation from Banerjee as she rushed from a programme attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the venue.

The Left students had alleged that Banerjee had "compromised" the agitation against CAA by meeting Modi, which Banerjee had termed as a courtesy call. The TMC supremo, somehow placated the students saying she would not go back on her stand on the CAA-NRC-NPR. She said that she raised the issue of financial assistance that the state is yet to receive from the Centre.

Modi was on a two-day visit to the city to participate in the 150 years celebrations of the Kolkata Port Trust, amid massive protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed nationwide NRC.