BJP, TMC workers’ killing triggers fresh face-off

Kolkata: A young BJP worker was found hanging dead from a tree under mysterious circumstances at Labhpur in Birbhum hours after a Trinamul Congress worker was shot at in the district leading to his death on Monday.

The body of Tapas Bagdi (33), the BJP activist, was hanging from a tree at Dwarka village like the way another tribal: Trilochon Mahato (18), a BJP youth wing worker, was found dead at Supurdih village in Purulia in May this year.

The BJP accused the Trinamul of killing him and hanging the body to project as if he had committed suicide. Rejecting their allegations the Trinamul claimed that Tapas hanged himself.

According to sources, the youth had joined the BJP ahead of the recent Panchayat Elections. He and his two brothers had a tiff with some local Trinamul workers who allegedly stopped them from putting up BJP flags during Durga Puja in the village.

Tapas and his two brothers however fled home soon as violent clashes broke out between the Trinamul and BJP in the village with the end of Durga Puja. On Sunday afternoon he returned home somehow.

Tapas however went out some time later to have bath in a pond near his house. When he did not return home at night, his family members started looking for him but he could not be found.

After mid-night they launched another round of search which took them to a tree-plantation project area where they came across Tapas, in shorts, hanging from a tree. A police team rushed to the spot.

The body was sent for post-mortem not before a group of villagers put up a resistance. Unlike in Trilochon’s case, no suicide note or poster was found however from Tapas whose family has ruled out the possibility of his suicide.

Samapti Bagdi, wife of Tapas, alleged, “He was killed by Mamata Banerjee’s partymen because he was with the BJP. There was no domestic trouble in our family.” Ananda Bagdi, father of Tapas, lodged a complaint against five Trinamul workers: Kajal Roy, Swarup Pal, Bishwajit Mondal, Laltu Bagdi and Kartik Pal with the Labhpur police station.

No one has been arrested by the police so far. State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, “Our worker was murdered. He was missing since afternoon. It is an instance of what happened in Purulia earlier. A conspiracy is underway to eliminate the Opposition. We demand a probe in the murder. It is a political killing.”

Trinamul strongman of Birbhum and party’s district president Anubrata Mondal said, “It was a suicide case. The youth tried to commit suicide once earlier also. His family admitted that he committed suicide. There is no politics involved in it. Is the BJP trying to cover up its role in Khoirashole incident.”

On Monday afternoon Trinamul Khoirashole block president Dipak Ghosh succumbed to his injuries. At around 1 pm he died at a private hospital in Durgapur in Burdwan where he had been under treatment.

On Sunday afternoon when Ghosh was returning home riding his motorcycle, a gang of miscreants shot at him before trying to hack him to death.