Sikhs live in peace in WB; one party giving communal colour to turban episode: Home department
Kolkata: The West Bengal government on Sunday said that a political outfit was deliberately giving "communal colour" to last week's incident involving a Sikh man, whose turban came off during a scuffle with the police, to serve its "narrow partisan interest".
The state home department, in a tweet, said the person was arrested in accordance with the law for carrying illegal firearms during BJP's march to the secretariat.
"Our Sikh brothers and sisters live in West Bengal in perfect peace and harmony, in happiness and tranquility, with respect from all of us for their faith and practices.
"A recent incident when one isolated individual got caught with one illegally carried firearm amidst agitationists in an agitation that was not authorized is now being twisted out of context, being distorted, and being given communal colors in fractious and partisan interest (sic)," the home department wrote on its Twitter handle.
It further asserted that the state government has the highest regard for the Sikhs and their ways.
"One political party is giving communal colour to the subject in narrow partisan interest in a manner that Bengal does not believe in. Policing was done as per law, but highest respect for the Sikh panth and ways from GOWB is affirmed," the department said on the microblogging site.
Controversy erupted after visuals of the police beating up a Sikh man during BJP's protest on Thursday went viral on social media, with a section of Netizens claiming that the police had pulled his turban during the scuffle.
The saffron brigade claimed that the incident has hurt religious sentiments. Tagging Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh tweeted, "Please look into the matter.
This just isn't done."
Balbinder Singh, a resident of Punjab, is a former Indian Army soldier. He is currently employed as a private security officer of a BJP leader, the saffron party claimed.
The West Bengal Police, on its part, said that the "pagri had fallen off automatically".
"The concerned person was carrying firearms in yesterday's (Thursday's) protest. The Pagri had fallen off automatically in the scuffle that ensued, without any attempt to do so by our officer. It is never our intention to hurt the sentiments of any community," the Bengal police tweeted.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
