Vande Bharat Express vandalized: Kolkata Police registered an FIR against state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and 10 city-based journalists for claiming that the second incident of stone-pelting on the Vande Bharat Express last week took place in West Bengal. According to a police officer, BJP leaders and journalists were involved in bringing bad name to the state.
Notably, both Majumdar and ten others reported on social media that the recently launched Howrah-New Jalpaiguri semi-high-speed train was vandalized by some miscreants in West Bengal. However, the police said that the incident took place on January 3 when she was passing through the neighboring state of Bihar.
Check out West Bengal BJP president’s tweet here:
Bengal CM warns of strict action against “those spreading fake news”
Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said legal action would be taken against those spreading “fake news” about the incident taking place in the state.
“An FIR has been lodged against BJP state president Sukant Mazumdar and 10 journalists. The incident actually took place in Bihar. It has damaged the reputation of West Bengal. Hence, they have been booked under specific sections of the Information Technology Act,” the police officer said. A case has been registered under.” PTI.
Majumdar claimed in a tweet that the incident took place in “Phansidewa near Darjeeling district”. 10 journalists from television channels and digital media had also reported that the incident took place in West Bengal.
What happened to the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express?
On 3 January, stones were pelted on the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express for the second consecutive day. Later, the Eastern Railway said that after scanning the video footage, it was found that the incident of stone-pelting on the train took place in Malda district on January 2 and in Bihar’s Kishanganj district the next day.
Soon after the video surfaced, the Chief Minister of West Bengal said that legal action would be taken against media outlets that spread “fake news” that the incident had happened in West Bengal, thereby maligning the state. These incidents created a tussle between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress. This train was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 30 December.
(With inputs from PTI)