In another cue that that Trinamool Congress leaders refuse to look beyond their supreme leader, intentionally or otherwise, the Delhi Police on Monday arrested six activists belonging to CPI(M) and its youth wing, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) for allegedly assaulting West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra outside the Planning Commission office in the capital on April 9.

Those arrested are SFI general secretary Ritabrata Bandhopadhyay, Delhi CPI(M) secretary PMS Grewal, Delhi CPI(M) state committee member Nathu Prasad and women activists Asha Sharma and Anju Jha.

They face charges under IPC section 353 (assault), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 143 and 149 (relating unlawful assembly).

"They were arrested after analysing the video footage related to the protest at Yojna Bhavan housing Planning Commission on Parliament Street on April nine," PTI quoted a Delhi Police official.

What’s interesting to note is the arrests came on a day Trinamool Congress staged a dharna in front of parliament deploring the “attack” on West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who was accompanying Mitra to Yojana Bhawan that day.

More interesting is the fact that the police case against the arrested office-bearers and activists do not include any assault. Notwithstanding that, Trinamool MPs Sudip Bandopadhyay, Mukul Roy, Saugata Roy, Derek O’Brien, Kalyan Banerjee, Sisir Adhikari and Dinesh Trivedi, among others, demanded the arrest of "CPM goons" in the morning and said they would not allow parliament to function till they are arrested, PTI reports.

They also raised slogans against prime minister Manmohan Singh, criticising him for the "inaction of the government" in the matter.

Later, party MPs trooped into the well of Lok Sabha, raising slogans on heckling of the chief minister by SFI activists in Delhi.

Banerjee and Mitra had gone to Planning Commission office to discuss the state's annual plan when they were gheraoed by a group of angry SFI activists protesting the death of one of their colleagues in Kolkata early this month.

But the PTI report quoted a police official saying, "She came in a private car and without any escort. Then she was heckled by the protesters. Immediately, police threw a cordon around her and escorted her inside.”

Mitra, 65, was manhandled while trying to enter Yojana Bhawan building and a woman protester thumped him twice on his chest and his kurta got torn in the melee. He was later put under medical observation at AIIMS, while Banerjee was administered oxygen after she took ill.

The CPI(M) has condemned the heckling of Mitra. But party general secretary Prakash Karat has said, "There was no attack whatsoever on Mamata Banerjee. There was a melee and jostling of the finance minister (Mitra), which we have disapproved of and condemned."

According to the police, Banerjee was supposed to enter the Planning Commission building in the high-security zone of the capital through its gate number 4 but used the in-gate where CISF had erected a barricade to control the access.