E-Paper
3 held in Bengal for BJP worker’s murder; internal feud, claims TMC
Bhawal was allegedly beaten up with the wooden handle of a shovel by about a dozen motorcycle borne men.
Three men were arrested in the Halishahar area of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Sunday morning in connection with the murder of a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker on Saturday, police said.
The deceased, Saikat Bhawal, was president of the BJP’s local polling booth-level committee. He and three other BJP workers were attacked by about a dozen motorcycle-borne men around 5 pm on Saturday.
The BJP workers were visiting voters for party’s outreach programme when the attack took place in the Barendragali area of Halishahar.
Bhawal was allegedly beaten up with the wooden handle of a shovel. He and three others were rushed to the J N Memorial Hospital at Kalyani in adjoining Nadia district. Bhawal died at the hospital. The FIR was registered at Bijpur police station.
“Four people were named in the police complaint. Three of them were arrested in the morning and charged with murder, attempt to murder, assault and criminal conspiracy. They will be produced before the Barrackpore court in the afternoon,” an officer of the Bijpur police station said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to brief the media.
“The three arrested men faced criminal charges in the past,” the officer added.
Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh accused the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) of targeting his party’s leaders and workers and carrying out well-planned attacks. “This has become the TMC’s policy in the run-up to the Assembly polls,” Ghosh said.
Partha Bhowmik, TMC legislator from Naihati, said his party was not at all involved in the attack. “The violence was the outcome of an internal feud between two local groups. This has no link with politics. The police are taking action,” said Bhowmik.
Although the agitation started peacefully, the BJP workers got into a scuffling with policemen around noon. They broke through barricades and surrounded the Bijpur police station compound.
“This agitation is to demand for a neutral investigation. What you are witnessing is the anger of BJP workers,” said Subhrangshu Roy, the local BJP legislator and son of national vice-president Mukul Roy.
