Kolkata cops reveal that they were asked to assault Mamata in 1993

, April 2: A top

officer had asked Kolkata police to assault

, the now

chief minister,in 1993 !

A police inspector and a constable have told the Justice (retd) Sushanta Chatterjee Commission that they had been asked by a top IPS officer to assault Banerjee on July 21, 1993, said a Times of India report.

The constable, who deposed before the commission, said that though the senior officer had asked him to assault Mamata, he didn't follow the order.

The commission was appointed to probe the alleged police firing in 1993, in which 13 Youth Congress workers died during a march to Writers' Buildings led by Mamata, who was then the state president of Youth Congress.

The cops' revelation was echoed by then personal security officer of Mamata. He had also deposed before the commission that he had threatened to open fire at the policemen if they tried to attack her.

However, the commission hasn't yet identified the IPS officer who had given the order. The then police commissioner Tushar Talukdar has deposed that he did not order the firing. Instead, he has blamed three then DCs - Mukul Sengupta (armed force), Deben Biswas (headquarters) and Siddhartha Ray (central) - for giving the firing order.

Siddhartha Ray and Mukul Sengupta, in their deposition, has also denied having ordered the firing.

Three other IPS officers - D C Vajpai, RK Johri and NK Singh - had moved the high court to avoid deposition before the commission.

Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had appeared before the commission and defended the police firing.

Oneindia News