Kolkata: Posta Market, one of Asia’s largest wholesale markets, had shut down on Thursday following an assault on the 73-year-old general secretary of its traders’ association. Bishwanath Agarwala, general secretary of Posta Bazaar Merchants’ Association, was slapped, abused, and had eggs hurled at him, according to a complaint lodged with Jorabagan police station. An FIR was registered. On Friday, traders at the market called off the strike after cops arrested four persons accused of the assault.Those arrested include main accused Kumari Sonkar alias Guria, who was allegedly seen in a video slapping and threatening Agarwala; Chandan Chakraborty, Anand Kumar Mishra, and Sunil Chaudhary. “There are directions from Nabanna to take the case seriously,” said an officer.Earlier in the day, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra took to X, questioning the police action in the case.The decision to withdraw the strike was taken at a meeting attended by association members and representatives of other traders’ bodies on Friday afternoon. “We have called off the strike. The cops have taken swift action and arrested those responsible. We don’t want to go on strike. This is an essential commodities market, and we don’t want people to suffer,” said Agarwala.According to the police complaint, Agarwala was heckled and assaulted when a group of people entered his office shortly before a meeting of the association was to be held on Thursday. The attackers accused Agarwala of having political links with the former Trinamool govt. The association has for several years organised the Jagaddhatri Puja at Posta, which used to be inaugurated by former CM Mamata Banerjee.The assault triggered calls for a strike by traders, who condemned the incident and demanded action against those responsible. The shutdown raised concerns over disruptions at the wholesale market. On Friday, Sitanath Ghosh, president of the association, said, “We held a meeting with members of our association and other traders and decided to call off the strike as the administration has arrested the accused persons. We will meet again next week to discuss security measures in the market.” “The violent attack on Agarwala has left the business community in deep shock. We will tolerate no compromise regarding the honour and security of our traders. While we strongly condemn this incident, we express our gratitude to the CM and the police for the swift arrest of the accused,” said Sushil Poddar, president of Confederation of West Bengal Trade Association.
