Police prevent BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari from going to massacre site of 2011

The TMC came to power in May 2011, dethroning the CPIM-led Left Front which was at the helm for 34 years.

The police on Friday prevented BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari from going to Netai village in West Bengal's Jhargram district, where CPI(M) activists allegedly fired on villagers killing nine people on this day in 2011 during the Left Front rule, to pay tribute to the victims.

The leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly was stopped from advancing towards Netai, leading to an altercation between police officials and Adhikari near Jhitka jungle.

He claimed that he had permission from the court to go to that village.

However, as the police did not allow him to proceed to Netai, Adhikari went to nearby Bhimpur and paid tribute to those killed. Adhikari, a former heavyweight leader of the Trinamool Congress, joined the BJP in December 2020.

Ruling TMC leaders claimed that a party programme was going on at Netai to observe the anniversary of the massacre and maybe the police did not give permission to Adhikari to reach there for that.

Nine villagers were killed in indiscriminate firing allegedly from a house owned by a local CPI(M) leader at Netai village in then Paschim Medinipur district on January 7, 2011.

The Calcutta High Court had ordered a CBI inquiry into the massacre. The CBI filed charge sheets against 20 people in May 2014. The TMC came to power in May 2011, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Front which was at the helm for 34 years.