Trinamool MLA Assaults Restaurant Owner Over Parking, Apologises Later | Video

Actor-turned-Trinamool Congress MLA Soham Chakraborty landed in a controversy for assaulting a restaurant owner after the latter allegedly abused party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. The incident took place on Friday night when the Bengali actor was shooting outside a restaurant in the New Town area of Kolkata. The video of the incident is going viral on social media.

The problem between the two sides began over parking the cars of Chakraborty and his men in front of the eatery in New Town area in Kolkata.

In the visuals, the MLA can be seen assaulting the restaurant owner after a verbal spat. Chakraboraty can then be seen dragging the owner by the collar with several people watching him.

Both Chakraborty and restaurant owner Anisul Alam have lodged complaints with the police against each other, police informed.

According to news agency PTI, the MLA later said that he wants to apologise to Alam as he should have controlled his anger.

Reportedly, the Chandipur MLA had parked his car in front of the restaurant, causing inconvenience to other customers. The restaurant owner, Anisul Alam, asked Chakraborty’s security personnel to remove the car. This led to a verbal altercation and the TMC MLA came to the spot and slapped Alam.

“The entire parking space was occupied by the cars of Chakraborty and his men. My staff told his men to remove their cars as other customers were not able to park their vehicles,” Alam said.

The restaurant owner added that the actor’s men told him that he’s an MLA and a very close friend of TMC’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. “I said that I don’t care even if he is Narendra Modi’s friend or Abhishek’s. It was then when suddenly Chakraborty came and punched me on my face and kicked me in my abdomen,” Alam alleged.

BJP Slams TMC

Sharing the video of the incident, the West Bengal BJP took to X and wrote, “Mamata Banerjee’s police will do nothing because in Bengal, the law is subservient to the ruling party’s thugs. This rogue behavior epitomises why TMC henchmen feel emboldened to commit relentless post-poll violence.”

“The state’s silence and inaction are a green light for tyranny,” it added.

MLA Admits Slapping, Wants To Apologise

Chakraborty has admitted to slapping the restaurant owner and said that he wants to apologise as he should have controlled his anger.

“The owner was abusing my staff and Abhishek Banerjee. He also abused me. I lost my cool and slapped him… I should have kept my cool and could have controlled my anger. I would like to apologise to the owner,” the actor said.

A senior officer of Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate said that the restaurant owner on Saturday lodged a complaint against the MLA and his security guards.

“We have received complaints both from the MLA and the restaurant owner against each other. We have started cases and investigations are on,” the officer said.

(With inputs from PTI)