President of the All India Minority Forum Idris Ali, who allegedly masterminded the violent protests in Kolkata, was arrested on the charge of rioting on Saturday.
Ali was charged with rioting, causing injury to police and public and damaging public property, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detective Department) Vishal Garg said.
The Forum chairman was arrested by sleuths near his residence on Ripon Lane in central Kolkata, the epicenter of Wednesday's violence during the three-hour shutdown called by the organization to demand the cancellation of controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen's visa.
Following the violence, Taslima was packed off to Rajasthan and shifted to Delhi the day after.
The West Bengal government had to call in the Army to control the protestors, who attacked the police and torched vehicles.
Large areas of Park Circus, Ripon street, Mouali, Mullick Bazar and adjacent areas had turned into a battlefield on that day, leaving school children and office-goers stranded.
The state authorities had to clamp down an eight-hour night curfew in violence-hit areas.
This was the first time since post-Babri Masjid demolition riots in 1992 that the Army had been deployed on the streets of Kolkata
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