The engineering student who slapped Mamata’s nephew

After he slapped Abhishek Banerjee, TMC workers beat him up mercilessly and said this was a planned attack on life of Banerjee by an ‘outsider’.

The youth who slapped Mamata Banerjee's nephew on Sunday at a public meeting has been identified as Debashis Acharya, 25, a third-year BTech student of an engineering college in Durgapur, according to a report in the The Telegraph.

The newspaper, quoting the boy’s father, said that he is ‘good in studies but has a whimsical nature’.

After he slapped Trinamool Congress MP and nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee, at a public meeting in East Midnapore, the TMC said this was planned attack on life of Banerjee by an ‘outsider’.

The Trinamool Youth Congress workers and leaders, present on the dais, sprung into action, caught hold of the youth and started beating him up after pinning him on to the ground.

He was then taken below the stage and thrashed mercilessly by the enraged party workers. The seriously injured youth was admitted in the local health centre.

Quoting a surgeon at the hospital where the youth is being treated, the newspaper said: "He has suffered multiple fractures; there are innumerable injury marks. We suspect he has suffered internal haemorrhage. A CT scan is being done. If his condition is serious, he will be shifted to a Calcutta hospital."

Some Trinamul activists said the youth claimed he was a press photographer.

"We did not know who he was. He came to the dais under the pretext of wanting to click pictures on his mobile camera and all of a sudden attacked Abhishek.

The incident led to chaos as party workers thrashed the attacker severely and later went on a rampage, targeting policemen and media personnel at the meeting convened by the Trinamool Youth in Chandipur.

Taking security personnel and party workers unawares, the youth mounted the dais while seemingly clicking photos on his mobile phone and came close to Banerjee.

Before anyone could react, the attacker - donning a cap - slapped the leader on the face soon after he had started his speech. Taken aback, Banerjee moved back, and the youth's second attempt to hit him did not succeed.

The attack on Banerjee triggered pandemonium at the meeting venue, as party workers turned their wrath on police and media personnel. Several policemen sustained injuries, while the representative of an electronic channel had to be rushed to the hospital after he was beaten up with bamboo canes. His camera was also broken into pieces.

Later, Trinamool workers put up a road blockade.