Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator, Swapan Kumar Betharia was seen beating a vendor during an eviction drive in a short clip that went viral online. The incident happened on Wednesday morning at Purulia’s Kashipur area in West Bengal. However, Swapan Kumar has denied any unlawful activity.
When asked, Kumar said that he could not recollect the occurrence. “I did not hit any vendor, don’t remember any such thing,” Kumar told news agency ANI. Notably, even the crowd present there did not try to stop the MLA from thrashing the vendor.
#WATCH: TMC MLA Swapan Kumar Beltharia caught on camera beating a vendor during an eviction drive in Purulia's Kashipur #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/EOaDoACpdn
— ANI (@ANI) August 16, 2017
Swapan Kumar was given a ticket from Kashipur (Purulia) seat in 2011. He had won with huge margins.
The eviction drives often turns violent in West Bengal. In a similar incident in 2016, an Indian Railways official was assaulted and bombs were hurled near a station after officials tried to evict hawkers who had set up “illegitimate” shops at the station premises.
