Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, a former Rajya Sabha member and senior Calcutta High Court lawyer, said that his home in the Kalikapur, Purbalok area of South‑East Kolkata was attacked early on Thursday morning. Police reported that around 5 a.m. a masked individual on a motorcycle parked in front of the house and threw four glass bottles, smashing window panes and damaging a CCTV camera.
A senior police officer confirmed that a complaint had been filed and that an investigation is underway to identify the attacker. CCTV footage captured a man with his face covered in cloth hurling the bottles and shouting, “Don’t come after us, we are patriots,” before fleeing the scene. The authenticity of the footage could not be verified independently.
Bhattacharya told reporters that he heard a loud noise, saw the damage after his domestic help called, and was threatened by the assailant who warned him not to “mess with us.” He has lodged an FIR with the East Jadavpur police station and claims the attack was carried out by “Hindutvavadi miscreants.” The former Kolkata mayor said he has decided to apply for a licensed firearm for his safety.
Former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the incident, calling it a blatant attack on the legal fraternity. She cited statistics of 2,454 rapes, 600 murders, 13,114 attempted murders and 32,341 grievous assaults in the past five months, describing the situation as state‑sponsored anarchy that endangers advocates. Banerjee urged unity among lawyers and pledged to meet Bhattacharya after her trip to Delhi.
Bhattacharya and former bureaucrat Jawhar Sircar will convene a citizens’ convention in Kolkata on October 13 to discuss issues such as the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls; actor‑politician Prakash Raj is also expected to attend.
