Tina poses for an assignment. Picture by Pabitra Das

Model Tina’s family members were allegedly roughed up outside their Jodhpur Gardens home by local youths last Sunday. The incident is reportedly the fallout of a dispute that started around the time Tina and her friend Rahul, dancer Alokananda Roy’s son, were beaten up at the crossing of Lake View Road and Jatin Das Road eight months ago.

“Around 9.30pm on Sunday, I heard on television that the banks and ATMs would be closed for the next two days. My wife Basabdatta, who is a florist, needed money for some assignments, so I asked my son Debopriyo to drive her to an ATM,” said Tina’s father, actor Mrinal Mukherjee.

As Debopriyo was starting the car, two youths came and stood in front of it, alleged Basabdatta. “I requested them to let us pass but they started abusing us. When my son stepped out of the car, they started beating him up. Soon, more youths joined the two and continued beating Debopriyo. When I tried to save him, I, too, was roughed up,” she said.

Mrinal heard the commotion and came out of the house. “I tried to drag away one of the youths, but they started hitting me. The mob managed to separate the three of us. My wife and I went inside the house,” said the actor. Debopriyo drove to a physician.

According to Mrinal, about 200 people gathered in front of the house around 15 minutes later and started abusing the family. “When they tried to break in, I called up Lalbazar. Lake police station was alerted. The officer-in-charge came down but was unable to control the mob. He asked me to accompany him to the police station, where he said he would register a light, bailable case against me to pacify the crowd. I was released as soon as my advocate got the bail papers,” he claimed.

The officer-in-charge said the actor had been involved in a dispute and had been arrested and later released on bail. He refused to go into details.

Basabdatta filed a case of assault and harassment at the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court on Friday. “My client has filed a case against Tarak Talukdar, who started the fracas, and others. We had approached the police, but since little came of it, we had to file the case ourselves,” said Tamal Mukherjee, the family’s lawyer.

A neighbour of the Mukherjees said the trouble had started around the time Tina was beaten up. “Rahul had parked his car in front of a house in the locality, belonging to a family of jewellers. This had led to an altercation and the car was damaged. The jewellers had threatened the Mukherjees several times,” she said.

The family has put up at a guest house in Jodhpur Park since the incident. “We are too busy to interact with the local youths. I do not know what led to Sunday night’s outburst,” said Mrinal.