Kolkata, March 22: Violence erupted after the bombing of Trinamool Congress (TMC) deputy chief Bhadu Sheikh on Monday night in Bagtui village of Rampurhat block under West Bengal’s Birbhum district.
It is alleged that in retaliation, Sheikh’s supporters set fire to at least 10 to 12 houses in the village, in which at least 10 people are being claimed dead. Two children are also among the dead.
Director General of Police (DGP) Manoj Malviya said that only eight people have died. Out of these, the bodies of seven people have been recovered from the same house and one person died in the hospital during treatment.
He said that 11 people have been arrested in the arson incident while the search has been intensified for the attackers in connection with Sheikh’s murder.
Denying that there was a political connection to the arson incident, he expressed the possibility of personal enmity behind it. Seven to eight nearby houses were torched an hour after Trinamool Congress leader Bhadu Sheikh was killed on Monday night, he said.
Seven bodies were recovered from a house while one person died in the hospital. The police station in-charge of Rampurhat and a sub-divisional police officer have been removed from their posts on charges of negligence in this case.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Additional Director General of Police (Criminal Investigation Department) Gyanwant Singh.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has sent a three-member team of party MLAs headed by Minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim to the spot.
Hakim said that whether the murder of the Trinamool leader and the arson in the village are related to each other, it is not yet known.
Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh claimed that the incident was a result of local enmity. He tweeted that the deaths in Rampurhat fire incident are unfortunate but it has nothing to do with politics.
Trinamool Congress’s Birbhum district chief Anubrat Mandal said the police were examining the CCTV footage where Sheikh’s body was found. Making a strange claim about the incident of arson, he has said that the fire started due to short circuit in the TV.
On the other hand, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has called for a detailed report on the incident from the Chief Secretary immediately. In a video posted on Twitter, the governor said he was hurt by the incident and indicated that the state was in the grip of violence and anarchy.
Opposition leaders have demanded the resignation of Chief Minister and state Home Minister Mamata Banerjee over this incident.
State Secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) Mohammad Salim has termed the incident of arson as genocide. Salim alleged that the Special Investigation Team to probe the incident has been set up to suppress “investigation and truth”.
Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Legislative Assembly Shubhendu Adhikari said that the law and order situation in Bengal is grim. He said that 26 murders have taken place in the last one week in different parts of the state. The Center should intervene and use Article 356 (President’s Rule) or Article 355 (Duty of the Union to protect States from external aggression and internal disturbance) to take control of the situation in Bengal.
State BJP unit chief Sukanta Majumdar said the matter has been brought to the notice of Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava, who will hear the matter on Wednesday.
On the other hand, BJP MPs in Delhi have met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and demanded immediate intervention in this matter, after which the central government has summoned a report in this matter within 72 hours.
