A Salt Lake resident was allegedly attacked by a former neighbour with a dagger because of his social media posts against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens.
Ronny Sen, a photographer and filmmaker, filed a complaint with Bidhannagar North police station, based on which the alleged attacker, Avijit Dasgupta, was arrested from his house on Tuesday night.
Sen mentioned in the complaint that Dasgupta, a resident of Vidyasagar Niketan, opposite Bidhannagar College in Salt Lake Sector I, had called him up on Saturday night and said he wanted to meet him in front of the housing complex.
Dasgupta later sent a text message to Sen repeating the request.
Sen came to know Dasgupta when he stayed at Labony Estate, which is close to Vidyasagar Niketan.
He told Metro on Tuesday that when he met Sen on Monday night, the former neighbour lunged at him with a dagger he had kept hidden under the waistband of his trousers.
“Before I could even say a word, he (Dasgupta) brandished a dagger and lunged at me. I managed to evade the thrust and ran away. Fortunately, he did not chase me and I could reach home,” said Sen.
Dasgupta, he said, was trolling him on Facebook, where he has made several anti-CAA and anti-NRC posts.
Sen has made a series of posts on his Facebook wall, opposing the CAA and NRC. He has also taken part in a number of walks held in Calcutta over the past few days to protest the CAA and NRC.
“He kept calling me an anti-national and told me that my posts against the NRC, CAA and NPR were rubbish. I asked him why he was trolling me and told him not to call me up again. He kept abusing me and said he would do whatever he pleased to save the country,” Sen said.
Kunal Agarwal, deputy commissioner, headquarters, Bidhannagar commissionerate, said: “We have arrested Dasgupta and are investigating the case from all angles.”
This newspaper tried to contact Dasgupta on his cellphone. He disconnected the call after this reporter identified himself. He did not respond to text messages either.
Dasgupta has been booked under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 341 (wrongful restraint and 506 (criminal intimidation).
He will be produced in a Salt Lake court on Wednesday. If convicted, he can be jailed for 10 years.
Sen’s debut film Cat Sticks had its world premiere in the competition section at Slamdance Film Festival, in the US, in January. It won the jury award of Honourable Mention.
The film also premiered at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles on April 12 and has been showcased in the New York Indian Film Festival and Mammoth Lakes Film Festival in California. It was nominated for the top prize at the recently concluded 25th Kolkata International Film Festival.