Murshidabad: West Bengal minister Subrata Saha and a ruling Trinamool Congress MLA were targeted by a mob in a suspected factional fight of the party in the district on Wednesday evening.
According to police, the minister of state for food processing and horticulture and a local legislator Jiban Krishna Saha, who is the local MLA, escaped unhurt in the attack that took place in the Burdwan constituency. The mob also threw bricks at Saha's vehicle damaging its window glass, they added.
The incident reportedly took place when the duo came out of a house at Bipra Sekhar locality, after meeting a family which lost five of its members in a recent road accident. Saha went to visit their house to pay Rs 2 lakh compensation to the deceased on the instructions of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
"Police officers who were present there escorted them to safety. We have started an investigation into the matter," an IPS officer told PTI, adding that at least 12 people were detained for their alleged involvement in the attack.
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The officer further said that a meeting of the party was going on in a nearby place and those present there attacked them.
"A group of anti-socials attacked us. I don't know who were they," the minister who is a former Murshidabad district president of the TMC told the media later.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who also hails from the district, claimed that it is a clear case of infighting within the TMC.
"The TMC's factional fights are taking place everywhere in the state. The police should look into them," the Congress leader added.
The minister was treated for shock in a hospital but he is otherwise unhurt, police said, adding that he was discharged later.
