Student arrested for shooting at Mamata Banerjee post

Calcutta:

A second-year student of the Bachelor of Commodity (BE) programme was arrested by the Kolkata police for a provocative social media post inciting violence against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The accused, Kirti Sharma, who is active on Instagram under the name “kirtisocial”, is accused of inciting others to murder the Chief Minister in a manner reminiscent of the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The post, which read “Shoot Mamata Banerjee like Indira Gandhi. If you can't, I won't let you down,” quickly attracted attention after several Trinamool Congress supporters brought it to the attention of the authorities. Police also alleged that the accused had revealed the identity and photograph of the 31-year-old doctor-in-training who was found brutally raped and murdered at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9.

Kolkata Police released a statement on the incident, saying, “A complaint has been received about the accused, who has the Instagram ID 'kirtisocial', uploading three Instagram stories regarding the recent incident at RG Kar Hospital. The posts revealed the picture and identity of the victim, which is highly offensive in nature. Moreover, the accused posted two stories containing abusive comments and death threats against the honorable Chief Minister of West Bengal. These comments are provocative and have the potential to create social unrest and foment hatred between communities.”

Kolkata Police have cracked down on social media posts related to the rape and murder case. Trinamool MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray has been summoned after he publicly demanded that the CBI question the Kolkata Police Commissioner. Police have also summoned former BJP MP Locket Chatterjee and two prominent doctors for allegedly spreading rumours and revealing the identity of the victim.