Vandalism of Kali Puja Pandals is misleading & unsubstantiated: Kolkata Police

Kolkata : Kolkata Police said on Saturday that some social media posts sharing news about the vandalism of Kali Puja Pandals are misleading and unsubstantiated and also instructed people to be cautious about sharing fake social media content.

During the last 12 hours, the city police have issued two such alerts. In the first alert, the city police claimed that an attempt was made on social media to create a fake narrative about an incident at Narkeldanga in North Kolkata.

“No Kali Puja immersion procession was attacked. The issue was related to the parking of a bike which led to a fight between two individuals which further escalated. However, the police intervened timely and brought the situation under control. The scheduled Kali Puja immersion procession was completed peacefully and without any hindrance,” said the city police.

The second alert was related to fake social media information over tension at a Kali Puja Pandal. The city police claimed that a social media claim has surfaced about an incident in an area under West Port Police station about an alleged tension at a Kali Puja pandal.

Claiming that the said social media post had misinterpreted facts, the city police stated that the narrative of vandalism at Kali temple or Kali Puja Pandal was misleading and unsubstantiated.

Police said that they acted swiftly and dispersed the mob while ensuring complete protection of the Kali puja pandal nearby, and preventing further unrest.

“Spreading false claims only fuels unnecessary tensions and diverts attention from the actual issue where a child was sexually assaulted by an accused who was swiftly arrested as soon as the information was received by West Port PS,” police said.

Before the Kali Puja which happened last Thursday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had issued a note of caution to the state and city police to be careful as there might be attempts to disturb the ambience of festivity on the occasion.