Kolkata: At least eight people were burnt to death after their homes were set on fire by a violent mob. On Monday night a mob attacked in Birbhum of West Bengal, following the murder of a Trinamool Congress leader over a feud. The death toll may rise.
This incident has put the TMC government in a tight spot, unfolded at Boktui village in Rampurhat after a gang of four goons, travelling on two motorcycles with their faces covered, attacked on upa pradhan (deputy chief) Bhadu Sheikh of Boroshal gram panchayat, at a tea stall on Monday evening.
He was taken to Rampurhat Hospital. He was declared brought dead by the doctors.
State DGP Manoj Malviya said that there is no political angle here, and gave ‘personal enmity’ as a reason for murder.
Sheikh’s family has accused his party colleagues of his murder. They said that over an internal feud, he was killed, after the murder of his brother Babar last year.
Within an hour of Sheikh’s murder, his followers reciprocated by setting at least seven-eight houses on fire after locking the residents from outside. Azizul Haque, an official of the Rampurhat fire station, told the media that three charred bodies were recovered on Monday night while seven more were found at a house early Tuesday. The list of victims which include many women and children is yet to be identified due to severe burns.
Malviya said that at night three injured persons were admitted to the hospital. One of them succumbed to injuries later. Apart from this seven bodies were recovered on Tuesday from one of the houses owned by Sanju Sheikh. Altogether eight were dead. 11 persons were arrested.
He added that SDPO (Rampurhat) Shayan Ahmed and Rampurhat police station OC Tridip Pramanik were suspended while a special investigation team led by ADG(CID) Gyanwant Singh has been formed for probing the matter.
BJP MLAs staged a walkout and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, at the Assembly. Citing the death toll, the leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari sought the Centre’s intervention.
He claimed, “It is up to the Centre to decide whether Article 355 or 356 should be imposed here. But we seek an NIA probe in the murder of the TMC gram panchayat functionary by a bomb explosion and a CBI probe in the killings of the villagers.”
The BJP also moved the Calcutta High Court for a suo motu cognizance of the incident and sent a memorandum to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.
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