A Trinamul Congress functionary, Joydeb Jana, was murdered in West Midnapore’s Dubrajpur village late on Friday night. The ruling party accused the Congress and the CPI(M) of masterminding his murder. An FIR was lodged at Sabang police station against Congress candidate Manas Bhuniya and 21 others. The killing triggered a political storm in poll-bound Bengal. Trinamul Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee demanded Mr Bhuniya’s immediate arrest while chief minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the inflammatory statement of CP(M) MP Mohammad Salim.
“EC must take appropriate action immediately. This is a result of Md Salim’s revenge remark. An innocent person lost his life,” she tweeted.
According to Nirmal Ghosh, TMC candidate from Sabang, Jana was returning after campaigning for him when he was surrounded by Congress and CPI(M) goons who thrashed him with iron rods and bamboo sticks. “Manas Bhuniya had been after Joydeb Jana’s life for some time.
He had repeatedly lodged complaints against him demanding his arrest.
When Jana could not be put behind bars, they decided to eliminate him,” Mr Ghosh alleged.
Mr Bhuniya, on the other hand, said, “He was not a TMC leader, he was a notorious criminal against whom dozens of cases are pending. He used to terrorise women in the village. I had written to the Election Commission, district magistrate, superintendent of police, officer in-charge of Sabang police station demanding action against Jana. I have heard that in a drunken state, he stormed into someone’s home and tried to assault women. Local residents protested and they manhandled him,”
Addressing a news conference at Trinamul Bhavan in Kolkata, Mr Chatterjee said that of late, Mr Salim had made threatening statements.
“They (CPM and Congress) are trying to bring back the politics of murder and mayhem in Bengal. From the reports we have received from the district, it is apparent that Manas Bhuniya was behind the brutal murder. We demand his immediate arrest,” Mr Chatterjee said.
CPI(M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra dared the police and the administration to arrest Mr Bhuniya. Mr Salim denied making inflammatory statement or threatening TMC workers.
