Cow-vigilante violence reaches Bengal: BJP youth leader who led brutal attack in Durgapur still at large

Almost a week after a group of men assaulted, tied up and paraded several Muslim persons in West Bengal’s Durgapur district while accusing them of being Bangladeshi intruders smuggling cattle, Parijat Ganguly, the BJP youth leader who led the brutal attack, remains at large.

The incident took place on July 31 at Gammon Bridge in DPL Coke Oven Colony, barely 200 metres from Coke Oven police station in Durgapur town. In videos that have since gone viral, a mob can be seen assaulting and tying up five men and accusing them of illegally smuggling cows. One of the men had the rope tied around his neck while the others had their hands tied together.

Commissioner of Asansol-Durgapur Police Sunil Kumar Chaudhary has said that four to five cows were being transported from Asuria market in Bankura district for agricultural purposes. Four accused persons, identified as Kiran Man, Basudeb Badyakar, Anish Bhattacharya and Dipak Das, have been arrested so far, while Ganguly remains ‘untraceable’.

While roughing up the alleged cattle smugglers, the group of ‘vigilantes’ forced them to chant Jai Sri Ram and warned them against smuggling cattle again. The men were also made to do sit-ups while holding their ears. The vigilantes then proceeded to ‘rescue’ the cattle from the truck in which they were being transported, parked near the scene of the assault.

Ganguly can be seen in the videos leading the group, wearing a pink kurta and dark sunglasses. He is first seen rounding up two older men, aggressively questioning them about where they were from and on whose behalf they were allegedly ‘selling the cattle’. The men kept shaking their heads repeatedly, insisting they were doing it for no one. The man was then seen instructing his compatriots to tie the alleged smugglers up.

Speaking to local media channels after the incident, Ganguly said around 20 cows were in the truck. “We want to know who is behind this. Surprisingly, all of the people we apprehend are Jihadis. All of them have beards, wear skull caps, and are selling cows… It is not my responsibility if they are getting beaten up. Maybe locals have done it (assaulted them)… They are saying they are from Joydeb, but they are actually not from there. They are all Bangladeshi. They do not have specific Aadhaar cards… We do not want such foreigners residing in Durgapur or West Bengal…”

Parijat also accuses the police of being involved in this ‘trade’.

While Parijat denied physically assaulting the alleged smugglers, during his media byte the man standing next to him wearing a pink t-shirt could be seen hitting the victims with sticks. The man, identified as Dipak Das, also issued an open threat on camera. The victims were later paraded down the street, forced to hold their ears and subjected to physical intimidation, including being shoved by Dipak, as bystanders, including school students, looked on.

One of the people apprehended, Nasimuddin, spoke to a reporter, stating that he was from Jemua, a town approximately 12 km from the place of assault. He said that they often had to pay the police at several stops during their journey, with the amounts ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 500. He also stated that they were held captive for nearly four hours by the vigilantes, during which they were beaten up. The release of the cattle, he said, resulted in an estimated loss of Rs 5 to 7 lakh.

In a statement on X, Bengal police said the ‘hooligans’ who were behind the attack belonged to a ‘particular political party’.

Two persons belonging to the minority community, while carrying cattle for farming purpose, were detained and severely beaten up yesterday in Durgapur by some hooligans belonging to a particular political party. A case has been registered over the incident and two of the… pic.twitter.com/ynLwciWAhE

— West Bengal Police (@WBPolice) August 1, 2025

Allegations of Police Inaction

It is worth noting that both Parijat Ganguly and Nasimuddin, in their respective media statements, said that police had not arrived at the scene at the time of the ruckus, despite Coke Oven police station being only 200 metres away. Choudhary, the police commissioner, later issued a statement saying that Parijat, Dipak, and around 15 to 20 others had stopped the vehicle, assaulted the men severely, damaged the vehicle, and taken away the small amount of money they had on them. He added that police had taken immediate and strong action as soon as they were alerted to the incident.

Choudhary also confirmed that both Das and Ganguly were affiliated with the BJP, and that Parijat Ganguly held a position in the party’s state youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. According to him, Ganguly was absconding since the incident, and police had conducted raids at his residence and other potential hideouts.

After videos of the assault went viral, Parijat Ganguly gave another media statement in which he said he would file a case against the victims for allegedly failing to transport the cattle in accordance with the law. He said he was willing to have a hundred cases filed against him, but would never let a single cow pass illegally. He also denied accusations of theft, saying that opposition leaders were behind the ‘false accusations’ against him.

Parijat’s ‘Activism’ Has its Rewards

While cases of cow vigilantism are extremely rare in West Bengal, Alt News found that this was not the first time Parijat Ganguly was involved in ‘apprehending’ alleged cattle smugglers. About a month ago, on July 2, Parijat and his compatriots were behind the arrest of two alleged cattle smugglers. According to a local Bengali news report, the accused in that case, Farukh Sheikh (resident of Pandua in the Hooghly district) and Mohammed Ashraf (a resident of Bihar) were arrested in Kanksa Police Station area in Durgapur for allegedly smuggling 20-25 cows in a container.

In videos of that incident, Ganguly and his group can be seen physically intimidating the accused and kicking them in front of police. In another video, they can be seen forcing the accused to chant slogans of Jai Sri Ram.

Below are some images of Parijat being discernibly aggressive during the same incident, reported by local Bengali news outlet Durgapur Darpan.

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Needless to say, Parijat Ganguly has often been seen hobnobbing with BJP West Bengal bigshots, including present state president Samik Bhattacharya and two former presidents, Sukanta Majumder and Dilip Ghosh.

In the following video, Bhattacharya is seen alongside Ganguly and Durgapur West MLA Lakshman Chandra Ghorui. Bhattacharya can be seen endearingly putting a saffron stole around Ganguly’s neck.

Ganguly has also been photographed alongside other BJP WB leaders like Dilip Ghosh (seen here with wife Rinku Majumder), West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, film star turned BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty, BJP Bengal co-in-charge Asha Lakra, former Bengal BJP president and Union education minister for state Sukanta Majumder, among others.

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