Kolkata, 11 December (H.S.)। Police have arrested three men for allegedly assaulting two chicken patties vendors during the ‘Five Lakh Voice Gita Chanting’ event held at the Brigade Parade Ground last Sunday. The arrests were made late Wednesday night on the basis of complaints filed at the Maidan Police Station.

The accused have been identified as Saumik Goldar, Tarun Bhattacharya and Swarnendu Chakraborty. Police said Saumik Goldar is a resident of Gobardanga in North 24 Parganas, Tarun Bhattacharya hails from Uttarpara in Hooghly, and Swarnendu Chakraborty is from Ashoknagar.

The event, organised by the RSS-affiliated Sanatan Sanskriti Sansad, witnessed alleged harassment of two vendors — Sheikh Riajul from Arambagh and Mohammad Salauddin from Topsia — who had gone to sell chicken patties. According to the complaint, a group of youths attending the programme confronted the vendors over selling non-vegetarian food at a religious event, assaulted them, forced them to perform sit-ups while holding their ears, and threw away the patties. Riajul reportedly incurred a loss of about 3,000 rupees as a result.

A video of the harassment went viral on social media, triggering political reactions. Both the Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) condemned the attack. TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said, “If someone does not eat non-vegetarian food, they can choose not to buy it. But why assault the sellers? They earn their livelihood by selling various items there. This cannot be tolerated.” CPI(M) lawyer Sayan Bandopadhyay later filed an FIR in the matter.

Following two separate complaints, Maidan Police launched an investigation and arrested the three accused on Thursday.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh