Senior CPI-M leaders Ashok Bhattacharya and Jibesh Sarkar, who were detained from the party office here in connection with the alleged attack on a Trinamool Congress procession, were released today.
Siliguri police commissioner Anand Kumar told PTI that the two leaders were detained for their own protection as a mob of Trinamool Congress and CPI-M workers clashed outside the party office Anil Biswas Bhavan yesterday.
"Ashok Bhattacharya and Jibesh Sarkar were not arrested but only detained. They were released today morning," he said.
Bhattacharya is a CPI-M state committee member and was urban development minister in the erstwhile Left Front government and Sarkar is a member of the Darjeeling district committee.
Bhattacharya said over phone that he and Sarkar were released around 7 AM. They had refused to return home and demanded to know the charges against them.
"The police had wanted to free us yesterday itself but we had demanded to know the reason of our detention," he said.
A policeman and three journalists were among those injured in the clash between TMC supporters, who took out a procession against the attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Finance Minister Amit Mitra by SFI in Delhi, and the CPI-M. The clash ensued when glass bottles filled with liquid were allegedly thrown at the procession from the CPI-M office.
