Trinamul MLA shot dead at a puja event

Kolkata: In a shocking incident, a young Trinamul Congress MLA Satyajit Biswas was shot dead on Saturday evening in Nadia of West Bengal ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The murder of an MLA of the ruling party is rare in the state. This was also the first time when any legislator from chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s party was killed during her rule. Mr Biswas was the MLA of Krishnaganj in Nadia.

While the Trinamul accused the BJP of killing its MLA, the BJP denied the allegations claiming that Mr Biswas may have become the victim of internal feud. The MLA went to attend the inauguration of a popular Saraswati Puja at Phulbari area. He was accompanied by minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises Ratna Ghosh, also a Trinamul MLA of Chakdah in the district, and Trinamul Nadia district president Gouri Shankar Dutta.

After the inauguration at around 8.30 p.m., Mr Biswas was getting down from the dais. A gang of miscreants opened fire on him from close distance in the crowd, said Mr Dutta. He added that the murder took place soon after he and Ms Ghosh left the venue. With bullets on chest and shoulder, Mr Biswas fell on the ground and died. The crowd fled for cover. Mr Biswas was declared brought dead at Shaktinagar district hospital.

The body was sent for post-mortem. A country-made pistol, used in the firing, was later found lying near the dais. It was siezed by the police. Senior police officers of the district rushed to the spot. A case under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code has been initiated. The Mamata Banerjee government is likely to hand over the case to the criminal investigation department (CID) which has sent a team from its headquarters at Bhawani Bhavan.

Mr Dutta accused BJP leader Mukul Roy of masterminding the murder. “Satyajit was like my son. When Mukul was in our party earlier, he opposed his election as an MLA. He will not be spared if he tries to enter Nadia,” he claimed. Expressing shock, Trinamul secretary general Partha Chatterjee said: “Satyajit was an young and popular organiser who was trying to build the party’s base in Nadia. I am short of words over his killing.”

He added: “The BJP was trying to create disturbances in the district for a long time. They thought that if Satyajit could be eliminated, they would be able to penetrate there. It was a pre-planned murder.” Trinamul observer of Nadia Anubrata Mondal claimed: “It was a handiwork of the BJP which has started losing its grounds. I will visit there on Sunday.”

Refuting the Trinamul’s charges, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said: “It was very unfortunate that an MLA was murdered. Satyajit was a good organiser. He was popular too. Since Mr Mondal got the party’s charge in Nadia, he imported the culture of killing. We demand a fair probe which will bring the truth before all.”