Kolkata: Kolkata Police launched a sweeping overnight crackdown across the city and arrested 11 people in connection with the assault on journalists and cops during Friday’s protest. The cops have identified at least 70 men they believe were “outsiders” who infiltrated the march to trigger violence.The coordinated raids began within hours of the protest and continued through Saturday across Kidderpore, Rajabazar, Park Circus, Akra Phatak, Belgachhia, Rajarhat, New Town and Baguiati. Senior officers said the operation was based on extensive analysis of traffic surveillance footage, police body-camera recordings and videos shot by media organisations, which allegedly captured the suspects moving along the rally route.
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Those arrested have been identified as Irfan Khurshed, Arshad Ali, Md Moinuddin, Md Alamgir, Imran Ahmed, Khalid Reja, Zamir Ahmed, Mohsin Khan, Dipak Bhowmick, Md Azad and Md Afroz. On Saturday, CM Suvendu Adhikari named Afroz in his statement at the assembly on Saturday. Afroz and Arshad were nabbed near Andal on the Durgapur Expressway while they were trying to flee from Bengal. According to cops, none of the 11 arrested is a student.The suspects are being investigated under the newly enacted West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Act, 2026, and the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Act, 2026, in addition to other criminal charges. The new laws provide for preventive detention of up to 12 months without trial and empower the authorities to recover compensation for damage to public property.The investigation revolves around seven FIRs registered at Hare Street and Entally police stations after a section of protesters allegedly hurled stones, sticks, shoes and water bottles at police personnel, journalists and passers-by during the Kolkata leg of the nationwide students’ march demanding the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Police have maintained that officers exercised restraint despite repeated provocation.The raids gathered momentum after CM Adhikari alleged that several participants in the protest were brought in from different parts of the city to engineer violence. “We pin-pointed the attackers and circulated their photos. Once identified, our teams visited their residences and hideouts,” a senior Kolkata Police officer said.Police have simultaneously intensified the search for others who have been identified. Several police teams continued with their raids at Rajabazar, Kidderpore, Ekbalpore and Watgunj till late Saturday night.Six of the seven FIRs were registered at Hare Street Police Station on complaints lodged by journalists who alleged they were assaulted while covering the protest, along with a complaint by a police officer over attacks on the force. The complainants include reporters Rahi Halder, Rik Purakayastha, Suman Mahapatra and Shiladitya Kar, cameraperson Makhan Chandra Patra, and Hare Street police sub-inspector Dinabandhu Kesh.The seventh FIR was registered at Entally Police Station on the complaint of another police officer, who alleged he was assaulted near Youth Central at Moulali as the procession passed through the area. In all seven cases, the accused have been shown as unknown.
