Tmc Worker Killed In Bengal, Fifth Political Worker To Be Murdered Since Durga Puja

A 42-year-old man associated with the ruling Trinamool Congress has died after being shot by two men allegedly backed by the BJP, in the fifth killing of political workers in West Bengal in nearly three weeks.

Pintu Sinha died on Thursday night in Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital, where he was admitted after he was shot at allegedly by the men who barged into his house on November 6, the day of Kali Puja. Sinha was a resident of Parui village in Purulia district, about 275 km to the west of state capital Kolkata.

“We have arrested Babu Bauri and Indrajit Roy in connection with the incident. An investigation is continuing to find out the motive of the crime,” district superintendent of police Akash Magharia said.

A district court on Friday sent the two men to police custody for seven days.
A political blame game started after Sinha’s death with leaders of the Trinamool Congress alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party-backed goons were behind the murder.

“They (BJP) want to stop the development drive in the state and, therefore, they hired goons from neighbouring Jharkhand,” Trinamool Lok Sabha MP and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who is scheduled to visit Sinha’s family on Saturday, alleged.

“The BJP wants to create unrest in the area. But we will not allow anyone to create any turmoil. We are going to organise a protest rally on Saturday,” state minister Shantiram Mahato, who is also a Trinamool leader of the district, said.

The BJP’s state unit general secretary Sayantan Basu said his party “does not engage in the politics of murder and bloodshed”.

“It could be an outcome of the factional feud that characterises Trinamool Congress,” Basu said.

Sinha was shot at only a couple of days after Sheikh Afzal, a 34-year-old Trinamool supporter, was attacked in Khairashole area of Birbhum district. Afzal was shot on November 5 but he survived as the bullet hit him in the waist.

A Congress worker Mohammad Samiruddin, 42, was killed and two others critically injured on November 4 when Trinamool Congress supporters allegedly fired on them in Chopra area of North Dinajpur district, claimed Congress block president Asok Roy.

Hamidul Rahaman, Trinamool MLA from Chopra, trashed the allegation against his party workers.

Rampada Bera, a BJP worker, was hacked to death with sharp weapons in Dhamal village in Jhargram district on November 2. The BJP’s Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh alleged that the ruling party’s supporters committed the crime.

Then the body of Tapas Bagdi, a 35-year-old BJP worker, was found hanging in Labhpur area of Birbhum on October 22.

“Murder of BJP worker Tapas Bagdi in Birbhum’s Dwarka Village will only spread the angst towards tyrannical Mamata Govt like a forest fire in WB. BJP will continue to seek justice and democracy in WB,” Union minister and BJP lawmaker from Asansol Babul Supriyo had tweeted.

Dipak Ghosh, Khairashole block president of Trinamool Congress, was shot at on October 21 and died in a hospital two days later. The ruling party’s Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal had alleged that BJP-backed toughs were behind the crime.

voters