Kolkata Police detain Union Minister Sukanta Majumder from meeting ‘dissident' British-Indian doctor
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State President and Union Minister, Sukanta Majumdar, was detained on Friday (June 20, 2025) in Kolkata's Bhawanipore while trying to meet an NRI doctor who had protested during Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to Kellogg College in the United Kingdom earlier this year.
Chaos unfolded in Bhawanipore on Friday afternoon as Mr. Majumdar tried making his way through Harish Mukherjee Road in South Kolkata's Bhawanipore to meet Dr. Rajat Subhra Banerjee at his residence. At first, Mr Majumdar's vehicle was stopped on his way. Then, from amidst a large crowd of BJP supporters and media personnel, he and Dr Rajat were detained and taken to the Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar in a police car.
'Dr. Rajat's house is located on 186C Harish Mukherjee Road, adjoining the residence of Trinamool's Abhishek Banerjee. The doctor had asked the Chief Minister certain questions during her visit to Kellogg College. Since his return to Kolkata, some mafia-like doctors and people claiming to represent the West Bengal Medical Council have been harassing him,' the Union Minister said after his detainment.
The BJP legislator said that the doctor had invited him to his house for tea, and accused the police of blocking his vehicle from approaching the doctor's house and jamming the road for hours.
'Today, when I went to visit Dr. Banerjee at his residence, I was blocked by the spineless, servile Kolkata Police — acting on Mamata Banerjee's direct orders. This isn't merely disgraceful — it is a blatant attack on personal liberty and the fundamental rights guaranteed in a democracy,' Mr. Majumder later wrote on X.
Dr. Rajat was released from Lalbazar hours later. After leaving the Kolkata Police headquarters, he told mediapersons that he is a British passport holder and an Overseas Citizen of India, and he would take legal action against the police for 'physically assaulting him'.
'My house is behind Abhishek Banerjee's house. That is why we were not allowed to enter. I have lived in a foreign country for 25 years, and I have not experienced something like this. I felt sick and panic-stricken when they captured me and put me in a police vehicle like I was a petty thief. I simply wanted to meet a friend,' Dr. Rajat said after his release.
He alleged that he is being 'targeted' for asking the Chief Minister questions during her visit to the University of Oxford.
Reacting to the developments, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that Dr. Rajat could have waited till the end of the Chief Minister's address at Kellogg College and asked his questions later, 'instead of disrupting her speech'.
'We believe in a democracy. Otherwise, I would have demanded that he be thrown out of Bengal. Interrupting a Chief Minister during her speech cannot be called dissent; it is uncivil behaviour. The doctor misbehaved; he should be socially boycotted… his friendship with Sukanta Majumder proves that these so-called protestors are raam-baam dalal (BJP-Left brokers),' Mr. Ghosh said.
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