Three BJP men held for ‘goli maaro’ slogan

Kolkata: Three BJP workers were arrested by the Kolkata Police late on Sunday night registering an FIR against them for shouting the controversial “goli maaro” slogan at Esplanade en route to the rally addressed by Union home minister Amit Shah at Shaheed Minar Ground in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Two of them were remanded in two days in police custody by a city court later.

The arrests have left the BJP fuming. The three accused were Pankaj Prasad, Dhruba Basu and Surendra Kumar Tewary. A senior police officer said, “This illegal act of shouting the provocative slogan ‘Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro saalo ko (shoot the traitors)’ is a cognisable offence.”

One Indrajit Kumar Mal, 29, a resident of Jawaharlal Nehru Road, lodged a complaint with the New Market police that covers Esplanade.

The accused trio were booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 506(ii) (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC. On Monday when they were produced at the Bankshall court, nearly 30 lawyers of the BJP legal cell fought for their bail. The judge sent Pankaj and Surendra to the police custody till March 4.