Kolkata witnessed unprecedented scenes on Sunday when supporters of rival football clubs Mohun Bagan Supre Giants and East Bengal gathered outside the Salt Lake Stadium to jointly protest the rape and murder of a trainee doctor.

As arch-rivals on the field became united off it, Trinamool Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray again took aim at his party.

In a post on X, Ray said: “I appeal to all football and sports lovers to protest unitedly against the arbitrary arrests of supporters of Mohunbagan and East Bengal in a peaceful and democratic manner. Jai Mohunbagan! Jai East Bengal!”

Ray’s tweet was not only a hat-tip to the rare sight of supporters of the two clubs coming together and demanding justice for the victim’s family, but also an explicit criticism of the Kolkata Police, who chased the protesters and detained several for defying prohibitory orders.

With this post, the veteran TMC leader made it clear that he is challenging his own government after raising tough questions about the police investigation in the trainee doctor’s rape and murder at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The three-term Rajya Sabha MP had called for acustodial interrogation of Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal and the now-removed RG Kar principal Sandip Roy by the CBI, which took over the case.

Ray’s outspokenness has invited criticism from his party members. TMC leader Kunal Ghosh termed his party’s colleague’s remarks as “unfortunate”. He also defended the Kolkata police commissioner, saying he tried his best to crack the case.

On Sunday, Ray was asked to appear before the Kolkata Police for tweeting “wrong information” about the probe into the RG Kar hospital rape and murder case. The police claimed that Ray had tweeted fake news about the dog squad being deployed at the crime scene after three days.

Ray approached the Calcutta High Court on Monday challenging the Kolkata Police summons. He had earlier cited poor health to skip the summons.