Kolkata, Apr 18 (DHNS): Trinamool Congress cadres allegedly beat up a former scientist and stripped his daughter, on the outskirts of the city, following discords over property issues.

The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon at Baruipur in South 24 Paraganas district, just 40 km from the capital. Nearly 30 youths from the TMC-dominated “Bhai Bhai Club,” broke into the rented apartment of Aparesh Bhattacharya, 60, thrashed him and his daughter.

She was then stripped and dragged to the street. The police, when informed, did not respond to the situation.

“At 1.30 pm, we were informed by neighbours that the club members might attack us. We called the police but were told that they were busy with VIP security,” said the scientist’s daughter.

“ They would have raped me but for our maid, who took me away and gave me a skirt and a top to wear,” she said.

“When the police finally arrived at 3 pm, we were squatting on the road bleeding without  medical attention. The police not only refused to take our complaint but when requested to take us to hospital, replied that it was not their duty and went away,” she said.

Alleging that the police had a nexus with the house owner Gautam Pal, the recently retired senior principal scientist of Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB) said: “When I and my daughter told the police to take our complaint, they refused; in the evening when we were preparing to go to hospital, they came in a van to arrest me on rape charges. I haven’t seen anything more surprising than that.”

On Monday, Bhattacharya  and his daughter tried to meet Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at her Kalighat residence in South Kolkata, but were denied audience as they didn’t have valid property documents. “How can we show any documents when we were thrown out of the house and refused entry?” Bhattacharya said. Police, however, clarified that persons without formal appointment were not allowed to see the Chief Minister for security reasons. 

Explaining the sequence of events, Aparesh said, after his retirement he had rented the house of Gautam Pal. Some time later, the owner offered to sell the house for Rs 40 lakh.

“I paid Rs 2 lakh as advance but later decided against buying the house as there were some legal issues with the property papers. The owner even promised to return the advance money. Later, he asked me to vacate and I sought some time. All of a sudden, the situation took an ugly turn,” Aparesh said.