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TMC leader murdered, 3 injured in Bengal’s Birbhum district
This is the fourth incident in West Bengal and the second in Birbhum in 10 days in which TMC’s district-level leaders were murdered
Kolkata: A 38-year-old Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader was killed and three of his associates were injured on Saturday night in a bomb attack in the Mallarpur assembly constituency of West Bengal’s Birbhum district, police said.
The victim, Baitullah Sheikh, was a member of the Mayureswar-1 panchayat samiti and a leader of the TMC’s community block unit. The incident happened at Bisia village, where Sheikh lived, shortly after he left a tea stall where he met some friends, the family told the police.
“Yafar Sheikh, alias Bashir, a 50-year-old resident of the village, was arrested on Sunday on charges of plotting the attack. A local court remanded him in police custody for 10 days. The three injured men are in hospital,” a district police officer said, requesting anonymity.
Abhijit Roy, the TMC legislator from Mallarpur, claimed that Bashir Sheikh was a CPI(M) worker.
“Bashir is a criminal element. He had an old enmity with Baitullah. The party will do its best to help the victim’s family,” Roy said.
CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty denied the allegation.
“Four TMC leaders have been killed in 10 days in various parts of Bengal because of intra-party rivalry. TMC blamed the opposition after every incident while police arrested ruling party workers,” Chakraborty told the media.
This was the fourth incident in Bengal and the second in Birbhum in 10 days in which TMC’s district-level leaders were murdered.
Pijush Ghosh, a zonal unit president and a panchayat samiti member, was murdered in the early hours of July 13 in Birbhum’s Sainthia region. Ghosh was also involved in selling sand from local riverbeds, a thriving business in the district that led to violent clashes between rival TMC groups in the past. Four people were arrested in this case.
Rajjak Khan, another TMC zonal unit president from Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district was murdered in the early hours of July 10. Police arrested Mofajjel Mollah, a local TMC leader, on charges of plotting the killing and five more for carrying out the attack.
In the fourth incident, that also took place on July 10 at Englishbazar in Malda district, Abul Kalam Azad, a TMC panchayat-level worker, was hacked to death when he was celebrating his birthday. Four TMC workers were arrested amid allegations of personal enmity between Azad and Mainul Sheikh, the main accused.
