TENSION AFTER TRINAMOOL MLA IS SHOT DEAD
KOLKATA/MIDNAPORE: A Trinamool Congress MLA was shot dead by unidentified gunmen while attending an event in West Bengal’s Nadia district late on Saturday, triggering angry reactions from the party amid tension in the area.
Satyajit Biswas (37), a legislator from Krishnaganj, was shot dead around 7.30pm while he was attending a Saraswati Puja event at Phulbari along with state minister Ratna Ghosh. The incident happened minutes after Ghosh left the venue.
Police said the attackers, who could not be immediately identified, merged with the crowd and fired multiple shots at Biswas from a close range when he was exiting the stage. The sitting MLA was rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
“We have recovered the country-made revolver used to fire on the MLA,” said Rupesh Kumar, superintendent of police of Nadia district, adding that the gunmen managed to flee the spot after the crime. Trinamool leaders expressed anger soon after the attack. “Satyajit was a dear party colleague of mine. Words are failing me. Recently, BJP leaders have tried to create disturbance in the area and stoke tension. There was a carefully orchestrated plan to eliminate Satyajit that is designed to benefit the BJP,” alleged TMC general secretary Partha Chatterjee.
“The BJP is responsible. They are solely responsible. It has not happened in Bengal earlier. I shall reach the spot by tomorrow 10 am,” said Anubrata Mondal, the Trinamool Congress observer of Nadia district.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bengal president Dilip Ghosh refuted the allegations and said: “It’s a most unfortunate incident. Anubrata Mondal (Trinamool party president of Birbhum district) is importing this culture of violence from Birbhum to Nadia. We want the truth to be revealed. Criminals have united under the banner of the ruling party. The tendency to label accusations against the BJP must end. Has anyone of the BJP ever been found to be linked with incidents of violence, though allegations are made all the time?”
The BJP’s Bengal unit general secretary Sayantan Basu alleged that Biswas’s death could be an outcome of Trinamool’s factional fights. He demanded that the investigation in the case be handed over to central agencies.
The incident comes amid political tension in the state, with Trinamool Congress president and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee recently holding a sit-in in Kolkata after blocking the Central Bureau of Investigation’s attempt to arrest the city’s police commissioner Rajeev Kumar in the Saradha chit fund fraud case.
The Supreme Court later said the CBI should not take any “coercive action” against Kumar, but allowed his questioning by the agency in Shillong. Both Banerjee and leaders of the BJP claimed victory over the issue after the apex court’s ruling.