The Kolkata attack case involving CPM veteran and senior Calcutta High Court lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya escalated on Friday after Suvendu Adhikari threatened legal action over a social media post describing the assailants as “Hindutvavadi goons”. Police have arrested the alleged prime suspect, Bappa Guchhait, 29, while complaints have also been filed against Bhattacharyya at the Garfa and Kasba police stations.
The developments followed a beer bottle attack on Bhattacharyya’s residence on Thursday morning. According to the report, Adhikari said he had instructed the commissioner of police to identify the attacker and take suo motu cognisance of the incident even if Bhattacharyya did not file a complaint.
Adhikari identified the arrested man as Guchhait, son of Sushant Guchhait, and said police had taken action against him. He also described Guchhait as a Trinamool worker. However, the suspect’s Facebook profile, as cited in the report, contains photographs with BJP leaders Soumitra Khan and Roopa Ganguly and states that he has been a BJP booth president since January 19, 2021.
The conflicting political associations cited in the report have added a political dimension to the police investigation. The immediate legal issue, however, concerns both the attack and Bhattacharyya’s description of the alleged attackers. Adhikari said complaints had been filed against the lawyer at Garfa and Kasba police stations over his reference to “Hindutvavadis”.
“If he does not delete it within 24 hours of watching my press conference… we will write a letter to the social media platform tomorrow on behalf of Kolkata Police, asking them to remove his post,” Adhikari said, according to the report. He added that an FIR had been filed against Bhattacharyya and that action under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita had been instructed.
Adhikari said the government did not support the attack and that the police had been directed to act against the person responsible. He also argued that the reference to “Hindutvavadis” targeted the Hindu community. The reported police response therefore covers two separate tracks: investigation into the physical attack and legal action over the social media post.
Bhattacharyya rejected the threat. “Let him take action,” he said, adding that such action would show that Adhikari represented the Hindu community rather than the Constitution. He said he would welcome the legal proceedings.
The case now places the Kolkata police administration at the centre of a dispute involving an attack on a prominent lawyer, competing political claims about the accused and a proposed criminal action over online speech. The next steps identified in the report are the investigation into Guchhait, the processing of the complaints at Garfa and Kasba police stations, and any action by the police or social media platform concerning Bhattacharyya’s post.
