A Trinamool Congress leader, who is a member of the gram panchayat and the president of the managing committee of a school in Kakdwip, South 24-Parganas, was arrested on Wednesday eveing for allegedly thrashing the acting headmaster.

Reportedly, Trinamool leader Tridib Barui was angered after an educational tour for students of the higher secondary level was arranged without informing him.

A video widely circulated on social media shows Barui assaulting Milankanti Pal, 56, the acting headmaster of Birendra Vidyaniketan school in Kakdwip.

In the purported clip, Barui is seen attacking Pal inside the school campus, before chasing him out in front of students.

Pal later sought shelter at the nearby SDPO office and was admitted to Kakdwip Super-specialty Hospital for treatment.

The incident occurred on Tuesday afternoon, when Tridib Barui visited the school after learning about the proposed excursion.

Pal lodged a formal complaint at the Harwood Point Coastal Police Station. Police sources confirmed that an investigation had begun.

Barui aka Bullet was arrested on Wednesday evening from the Canning railway station.

Sources indicated that the dispute arose over the collection of money from students for the proposed educational trip. Barui wanted to know why the trip was planned and money was collected without informing him.

Describing his ordeal, Pal later said: "The Trinamool leader brought a document with several false accusations against me. He wanted me to sign that document, claiming I was collecting money from students without informing the management committee which was baseless. When I refused to sign, he hit me behind my neck, pushed me out of my office and continued to shove and hit me until he chased me out of the campus."

Barui, while speaking to the media over the phone before his arrest, claimed he acted in self-defence.

"He took money from students without informing the management committee. When I went inside his office to show him a receipt proving the collection, he threw it away. As I picked up the paper and asked him to sign on it, he pushed me and tried to hit me. I just tried to resist him in self-defence," he said.

Political ripples

BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya condemned the incident on his X handle, sharing the viral video.

He wrote: "Such an attack on a teacher proves that Trinamool leaders are not even leaving educational institutions. The teaching community is insecure today. Not education, but terrorism is their only identity. This terrorism in the educational institutions of the state is exposing the true face of Trinamool Congress. It is a matter of shame that the person who committed the heinous act of beating a teacher is also sitting as the president of the school managing committee!"

On the allegations against his party colleague, Kakdwip Trinamool MLA Manturam Pakhira said: "Everything is being investigated. If the allegations against the president of the management committee, Tridib Barui, are proven, the party will take strong action. The role of the acting headmaster of the school will also be investigated."

Chandan Maiti, headmaster and general secretary of the Advanced Society for Headmasters and Headmistresses, demanded immediate exemplary punishment for the arrested Trinamool leader.

Maiti termed the campus attack on Pal as a “brazen assault on the dignity and safety of educators.”

"A worrying pattern is emerging across the state where politically connected individuals attempt to exert undue control over educational institutions. We urge the state’s education minister to take immediate steps to keep such persons away from schools and colleges and keep the education system safe from destruction,” Maiti said.