BJP worker murdered in north Bengal; party accuses TMC

A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker died in a hospital at Tufanganj in Cooch Behar district of north Bengal on Wednesday morning after he was injured in a clash between members of two community clubs.

The deceased, Kalachand Karmakar, was a polling booth level secretary of the BJP. Malati Rava Ray, president of the BJP’s Cooch Behar district unit, alleged that Karmakar was killed by criminals shielded by the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

“Two local residents, Biplab Karmakar and Parimal Burman, were injured when they tried to save the BJP worker. They are admitted in Tufanganj hospital. Our workers are being targeted regularly,” said Ray.

“The clash was triggered by a quarrel between members of two community clubs that had organised Kali Puja. One person has been arrested. We are conducting a probe,” a police officer from Tufangunj police station said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to talk to the media.

Abdul Jalil Ahmed, the TMC district general secretary, said, “The clash had nothing to do with politics. There was a quarrel between members of the two community clubs. TMC is not involved in any way.”

BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya alleged in Kolkata that Karmakar became a target because he was polling booth-level worker. “Our party is strengthening its base in all polling booth areas. The ruling party is trying to foil our strategy by targeting booth-level workers.”

While talking to the local media, Cooch Behar superintendent of police K Kannan said, “The deceased was 55 years old. When there was a quarrel between members of the two clubs he tried to intervene and stop them. Someone punched Karmakar in the face and he fell unconscious. He was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.”