Kolkata/IBNS: Actor-Trinamool Congress MLA Soham Chakraborty has faced the heat after he slapped a restaurant owner at Rajarhat in the outskirts of Kolkata during a shooting after allegedly quarreling over parking, media reports said.

Reports claim Chakraborty had parked his car in front of the restaurant causing inconvenience to the customers.

Anisul Alam, the restaurant owner, asked Chakraborty's security personnel to remove the car followed by a tiff. The Chandipur MLA then came to the spot and slapped him.

Chakraborty, however, tells a different story. The actor-MLA claimed he slapped Alam because the latter abused TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

Alam has denied the allegation.

Later, Chakraborty went to the police station to file a complaint against the restaurant officials.

Speaking to the media, "I couldn't tolerate abuse against Abhishek Banerjee. Yes, I have slapped him. I lost my cool. We are humans, we too have emotions."

Denying Chakraborty's claims, Alam said as quoted by The Indian Express, "He came here to shoot without even taking any commercial deal. Despite that, we allowed him to shoot in the restaurant. There was a verbal altercation between the restaurant workers and his security personnel regarding parking.

"I had resolved that and was on my way to the restaurant when Soham came and punched me in the face. I pleaded with folded hands asking him not to beat me and listen to what happened. Instead, he said, ‘I will show you my power’ and kicked me."

"Chakraborty is making baseless allegations that I used bad words against Abhishek Banerjee to defend his act. This is completely untrue as I never used any bad words against Banerjee. I only said that it does not matter whether Chakraborty was a friend of Abhishek Banerjee or Narendra Modi as he had to clear the parking space for my guests," he added.

The Bidhannagar Police is probing into the incident.

Slamming the Mamata Banerjee government, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Indranil Khan posted on X, "TMC MLA Soham Chakraborty mercilessly beats, drags by collar a restaurant staffer and then misuses his security to beat up other staffers in Kolkata's New Town. Well, no action will be taken against him by Mamata Banerjee's police coz, in West Bengal, the law is of the ruler as there is no rule of law.

"Here LawMakers of ruling party can take law into their own hands and escape any penal action. In fact, I fear police will be lodge against the victim who was mercilessly beaten by this rogue TMC MLA. No wonder wherefrom TMC workers get the audacity and protection to perpetrate routine post poll violence on opposition supporters in West Bengal."