KOLKATA: The historic Baker Laboratory at Presidency University — made famous by the likes of Jagadish Chandra Bose, Satyendra Nath Bose and Meghnad Saha — was vandalized by a bunch of hooligans on Wednesday as part of a series of statewide retributory attacks for the heckling of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and finance minister Amit Mitra in Delhi on Tuesday.

It was a black day for Bengal and the country — Baker Lab’s fame extends beyond the country’s shores. The goons, carrying Trinamool Congress flags and armed with spears and rods, chased girl students and the dean Debashruti Roychowdhury around the campus, threatening to rip their clothes and rape them in public. An MSc student was beaten up inside the laboratory and his professor had his pants torn off when he tried to rescue him.

Renowned astrophysicist Somak Raychaudhury, the head of the physics department, was shocked by the attack. “I never thought I would see anything like this. I was a student here and have seen the tumultuous Naxalite days when bombs would explode every day in Calcutta University. Nothing like this ever happened at Presidency. What is happening now is scary because it is outsiders who are unleashing violence on campus. This is unprecedented. It’s not student politics but pure hoolganism. I am not even getting police protection — they stood as mere spectators,” said Raychaudhury, who was picked up by the Presidency mentor team from the School of Astronomy, Birmingham .

“It is unthinkable. They can’t be students but a group of hooligans with TMCP flags who attacked students, chased teachers and smashed panes. There was no assistance from the police at that point,” said V-C Malabika Sarkar.

Ex-minister, CPM leader arrested

The vandalism at the Baker laboratory was a testimony to how Bengal's bitter political rivalry continued to erupt violently on Wednesday as the Left and Trinamool leaders traded allegations and their partymen punches.

Former minister Asoke Bhattacharya and senior CPM leader Jibesh Sarkar were arrested in Siliguri after complaints that soda bottles and brickbats were thrown on a Trinamool Congress rally protesting against the SFI's heckling of Mamata Banerjee and her team in Delhi.

While the CM insisted in Delhi her partymen weren't involved in reprisals, Left Front chairperson Biman Bose alleged in Kolkata nearly 1,000 offices belonging to the communist parties were destroyed since Tuesday evening.

Union minister Deepa Dasmunshi said Congress offices were also attacked and her car targeted by Trinamool workers.

