BJP: 2 more injured by pellets - Jogesh , an ex-serviceman, claimed that he was hit by two rubber bullets in the abdomen

Saffron camp brings fresh allegations of ‘police atrocity’ on Monday’s protest march in Siliguri

BJP supporter Jogesh Roy on Thursday shows rubber bullets that he claims hit him during Monday’s protest march : Telegraph Picture

TT   |   Jalpaiguri/Alipurduar   |   11.12.20  :  Leaders of the BJP in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar have claimed two more supporters  who had joined Uttarkanya Abhiyan protest march in Siliguri on Monday were injured by police pellets.

Since Monday, the party has claimed that police fired pellets that fatally injured BJP supporter Ulen Roy, 65.

According to party sources, Amardip Roy, a BJP leader of Haldibari block in Cooch Behar, was admitted to the super-specialty hospital in Jalpaiguri on Wednesday evening with pellet injuries and shifted to a private nursing home in Siliguri on Thursday.

“He was hit by pellets on his abdomen and hand. Initially, he was taken to the local hospital in Haldibari and shifted to Jalpaiguri where doctors confirmed pellets were still lodged in his body. He is under treatment in Siliguri now,” said Palen Ghosh, the Jalpaiguri district president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.

BJP leaders in Alipurduar said Jogesh Roy, one of their supporters from Tapsikhata on the outskirts of Alipurduar town, was hit by pellets and rubber bullets.

Jogesh , an ex-serviceman, claimed that he was hit by two rubber bullets in the abdomen and four pellets on the chest. He showed the rubber bullets and a pellet. “After the march, I took a car and visited a doctor at Falakata. I did not go to any nursing home in Siliguri as police had started detaining our supporters,” said Jogesh.  

Suman Kanjilal, a district secretary of BJP in Alipurduar, added: “Police have fired pellets at our men and denied it blatantly. We suspect some more of our supporters suffered similar injuries.”

The police, in their tweets on Monday and Tuesday, said water cannons were fired and tear gas shells burst but not pellets. They said that Roy died of pellets from a shotgun at “close range” and accused people of bringing firearms to the protest. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the BJP of killing their own man for “propoganda”.

On Wednesday, BJP leaders Kailash Vijayvargiya and Amit Malviya posted videos of purported policemen with pump-action guns in a bid to prove police pellets killed Roy.

Trinamul minister Gautam Deb said the gun in the clip posted by Vijayvargiya was the kind that fired rubber bullets.

Second autopsy

The police filed a petition with the chief judicial magistrate’s court, requesting the order for a second autopsy on Ulen Roy is recalled.

The plea said three doctors were present and videography of the process had been done in the first post-mortem, like what the court stated in its order for a second-one, to justify the recall. The court will hear the case on Friday.