A man brandishing a gun was tackled and arrested by the police as he threatened to hold a classroom full of children hostage at gunpoint in West Bengal’s Malda. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said a disaster had been averted by the police’s timely action, adding that the act may not have been one of lunacy.

A policeman barged into a classroom and pinned the man to the ground as frightened children rushed out of the classroom as the gunman continued to rant inside the classroom. Azhar Uddin, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Law and Order) pounced on the gun-wielding man and pinned him to the ground before snatching the weapon from him.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “I must congratulate my police officials and the media who have saved us from a deep sea of conspiracy. There is a conspiracy around Bengal, and I believe Delhi is involved in this. I don’t know who exactly is doing this, but this is Delhi’s conspiracy A-Z. Wherever there is an opposition party state there is an attempt to disturb, and they have been doing it to me from the beginning.”

She further alleged that no common man would have been able to execute this. “Where did he learn the word (hostages) from? When people who do these kinds of things are caught, they immediately say it’s a lunatic. Who gave him the idea that you can take hostages like this?”

West Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar targeted the Chief Minister over the law-and-order situation in the state. “The Honourable Chief Minister said she would transform Kolkata to London. But I have heard of such gunmen-related incidents in America. Now it is happening in our towns and villages. You imagine what a scary law and order situation it has become,” he said.