Mamata Banerjee faces protest, vehicle attacked during Halisahar visit

A famous political leader named Mamata Banerjee went to visit a family in West Bengal, India, whose loved one died while he was in police custody.

The man, a party worker named Birju Keot, had been arrested on allegations including extortion, and a court sent him to police custody for five days, but he died the next day.

As her car drove through the town of Halisahar, many angry people surrounded it and threw mud, stones, slippers, shoes and water at it while shouting unkind names.

Banerjee said the attack was a planned conspiracy and that she had told the police she was coming, but no safety measures were taken.

She blamed the state government and its leader, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, saying the police were protecting the wrong people.

The ruling party, the BJP, disagreed and said Banerjee came to cause trouble and that the people were simply angry; its leaders also condemned the attack.

Keot's wife says the police beat her husband inside the lock-up, and his family says his body had injury marks.

The police say he was found unwell inside the lock-up and was taken to hospital, where doctors declared him dead; one report says the police believed he had a heart attack.

The police are now investigating both the man's death and what happened during the protest.