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BJP supporter found hanging in Bengal, party charges TMC with murder
Swapan Das, a goldsmith, went missing on Tuesday morning but his family did not report the matter to the police.
A 36-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporter was found hanging inside the premises of a girls’ school at Tufanganj in north Bengal’s Cooch Behar district on Wednesday morning, a day after he went missing, police said.
The family of Swapan Das, the deceased, and local BJP leaders alleged that he was murdered by workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). BJP national president J P Nadda, who is in Bengal on a two-day visit, also mentioned the death in his first address to party workers in Kolkata.
The body of Das, a goldsmith, was found hanging outside the canteen at Andaran-Fulbari Girls’ High School, said the police. A resident of Subhas Palli in the Andaran-Fulbari gram panchayat area, Das went missing on Tuesday morning but his family did not report it to the police. Das is survived by his wife and two minor daughters.
There were bloodstains on his feet, alleged Chumki Das, the BJP worker’s wife. Malati Rava Roy, the BJP district president, said, “His feet were on the ground, this cannot be a case of suicide.”
“My husband was murdered by TMC-backed goons. He did not hang himself,” said Chumki Das, who named two TMC workers in her police complaint.
The TMC denied the allegation.
Rabindra Nath Ghosh, north Bengal development minister, said, “BJP supporters are killing their own people and putting the blame on other parties. The TMC has nothing to do with this death.”
K Kannan, superintendent of police, Cooch Behar, said, “We have registered a case of unnatural death and an investigation is on.”
Agitated BJP workers staged a demonstration with the body outside Tufanganj police station.
Sibapada Paul, TMC’s district spokesperson, claimed that Das died by suicide because of a family feud.
