On the evening of 2026-10-13, former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee left her residence on Harish Chatterjee Street in Kalighat, Kolkata, to attend a local event. She was preparing to inaugurate a Durga Puja pandal organised by the Kalighat Milan Sangha, a community group that builds temporary shrines for the annual festival. The time noted by witnesses was around 06:00 PM.
As Banerjee stepped onto the street, a woman later identified as Tannishtha Saha reportedly came forward with a knife. According to a complaint lodged by Trinamul Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen, the woman attacked Banerjee with the blade and, at the same moment, declared herself to be Banerjee’s niece. Dola Sen’s statement, recorded at about 06:00 PM, reads: "...at about 06:00 PM today, a lady namely Tannishtha Saha reportedly known as Civic Volunteer and a drug addict presently came with a violent mode and attacked Smt. Mamata Banerjee with a knife and furthermore claimed herself as her niece."
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Shortly after the incident, at around 7 pm on the same day, Dola Sen went to the Kalighat police station and filed a formal complaint. She named Tannishtha Saha as the alleged attacker and described her as a civic volunteer and a drug addict. The complaint repeated the core allegations: the woman had come with a violent intent, used a knife, and claimed familial ties to Banerjee.
When she could not get through, she lay down on the road, began shouting abusive language, and it was only then that observers noticed she was holding a knife.
Despite the disturbance, Mamata Banerjee proceeded with her scheduled engagement. She inaugurated the Durga Puja pandal of the Kalighat Milan Sangha later that evening. The inauguration is a customary political gesture for leaders in West Bengal during the festival season, symbolising community outreach.
In her account, Dola Sen added further detail about the woman’s behaviour after the initial confrontation. She said that when she asked the woman for her identity, the respondent claimed that Banerjee was her paternal aunt. Dola Sen refused to let her approach. The woman then tried to slip into the security cordon from the front, but was blocked. When she could not get through, she lay down on the road, began shouting abusive language, and it was only then that observers noticed she was holding a knife.
Both Dola Sen's complaints and the subsequent police notes described Tannishtha Saha as a drug addict.
The woman repeatedly asserted a relationship to Mamata Banerjee, first saying she was the former chief minister’s niece and later, when questioned by Dola Sen, stating that Banerjee was her paternal aunt. This claim of kinship was highlighted in the complaint as part of the woman’s motive for approaching the security detail.
Trinamul Congress MP Kirti Azad took to the social media platform X to blame the Bharatiya Janata Party for the attack. His post, made on 2026-10-13, read: "There is no rule of law in West Bengal. Our leader, one and only one in West Bengal was brutally attacked, luckily the workers of @AITCofficial who were alert and prevented this dastardly act sponsored by BJP Goons. It is going to be proven very soon that the assembly elections in Bengal were a farce. Engineered by \"Gyanu the thief\"." This statement framed the incident as a politically motivated act.
Members of Mamata Banerjee’s party, the Trinamool Congress, described the assailant as being overpowered by party workers and loyalists present at the scene. They said that after the woman was subdued, she was handed over to the police. The party’s narrative emphasised that quick action by its supporters prevented any injury to Banerjee.
Following the subduing of the woman, the Trinamool Congress workers transferred Tannishtha Saha to the Kalighat police station. The police then took her into custody for further questioning.
The incident quickly entered the public discourse, with opposition figures using it to criticise the state government’s law‑and‑order situation, while the ruling party portrayed it as an isolated act thwarted by its own cadres. Kirti Azad blamed the BJP for the attack in a post on X, calling the assailant 'BJP Goons' and alleging that the assembly elections in Bengal were a farce engineered by 'Gyanu the thief.'
The investigation remained at the stage of a complaint and a custodial hold.
The brief ends with the inauguration of the Durga Puja pandal having proceeded, the alleged attacker in police custody, and competing narratives circulating in the media and on social platforms. No resolution or legal conclusion is provided, leaving the episode as a contested moment in the political calendar of West Bengal for 2026.