A woman entrepreneur in Malda alleged that a group of Trinamool Congress workers stormed into her furniture showroom and ransacked it on Friday night in the Bhawani More area of the town.
The entire incident was captured on CCTV cameras, she claimed.
Sudha Kundu, who owns the furniture showroom, filed a complaint at the Englishbazar police station against Trinamool leader Indrajit Seth and his associates on Saturday. Police have initiated an investigation.
The businesswoman shared CCTV footage of her shop on social media, which quickly went viral.
“Indrajit Seth, who is a close associate of a Trinamool councillor, entered my showroom along with some others, vandalised the premises and threatened to kill me,” she said.
Sources said Kundu's showroom is located adjacent to the party office of late Trinamool leader Dulal Sarkar in the Bhawani More area. As part of regular business operations, furniture is frequently loaded and unloaded at the showroom.
On Friday night, an argument broke out between two of Kundu's employees and Seth over the unloading of furniture in the area.
“After a while, Seth entered the showroom, abused me and issued death threats. The incident took place in the presence of local Trinamool councillor Chaitali Sarkar, but she did not intervene,” Kundu alleged.
The incident left her and her employees concerned, she added. On Saturday, she kept the showroom closed.
Seth, however, denied the allegations and claimed he was being falsely implicated.
“The allegations are false. In fact, one of her sons previously threatened me over the phone, and I had been to the showroom for that issue,” he alleged.
Chaitali Sarkar, the local TMC councillor, said she noticed commotion while returning home from the party office on Friday night.
“The businesswoman (Kundu) deliberately provoked the altercation. Similar disputes had occurred in the past,” she alleged.
Officials at the Englishbazar police station said they have received the complaint. “We are examining the CCTV footage and have started a probe,” said a police officer.
