A 17-year-old school student was killed in a bomb attack in Deganga, North 24-Parganas district, during a pre-poll clash between supporters of the CPM-ISF combine and Trinamul on Tuesday night.
The death of the Class XI student, Ibram Hossain, in Deganga's Gangarti village late on Tuesday took the count of deaths in incidents of violence in Bengal ahead of the July 8 rural polls to 16.
Sources said that the clash between the two camps took place around 10pm on Tuesday when separate rallies taken out by both were on the verge of ending in close proximity to each other.
As the supporters of both sides started dispersing, a sudden clash erupted with bombs getting hurled.
Ibram was standing with his uncle, Trinamul leader Mohammad Arsadul Haque, at the tail-end of one rally.
Suddenly, a bomb exploded near them with splinters hitting the student, who slumped to the ground bleeding profusely.
Cops stand near the site where the student was killed in a bomb attack at Deganga’s Gangarti village in North 24-Parganas on Wednesday. Ankit Mukherjee
Ibram, along with five others who were also injured, was rushed to the Biswanathpur Rural Hospital in Deganga. There, doctors on duty declared the teenager dead.
Speaking to reporters, Haque said: "We were about to conclude the rally when goons hired by the ISF and the CPM began hurling bombs indiscriminately at us. My nephew Ibram had come to my party's rally with me. A bomb exploded next to him and hit him fatally.”
The death occurred on a day the state police director-general Manoj Malaviya downplayed the incidents of violence and clashes in pre-poll Bengal as "sporadic".
Trinamul's Barasat MP Kakali Ghosh Dastidar blamed the Opposition parties for the death.
"They know we will win and that's why are trying to unleash panic. They are taking to violent ways. A student got killed. It is a cold-blooded murder," the Trinamul MP said.
The ISF strongly reacted to the allegations and blamed Trinamul's infighting for the teenager's death.
ISF MLA from Bhangar Nawsad Siddique said: "The boy was killed because of the ruling party's infighting."
Following Ibram's death, retaliatory attacks took place at several places in Gangarti close to midnight. Police have so far arrested five persons for their suspected role in the teenager's death.
A police officer in Deganga said a violent mob ransacked over a dozen of houses of the alleged perpetrators of violence and set them on fire.
Deganga has been witnessing sporadic violence ever since the announcement of the 2023 panchayat polls.
On Monday night, clashes erupted between Trinamul and the CPM-ISF combine in several pockets of Deganga and adjacent areas. In Chakla, 15 persons were injured in a clash between warring Trinamul and ISF supporters over fixing party flags and banners. A large police contingent, along with Rapid Action Force personnel, had to be deployed in the area. Despite the presence of cops, sporadic clashes continued in pockets of Deganga.
In a related development, clashes also occurred in Bhangar and Basanti in South 24-Parganas on Tuesday night.
A fresh incident of violence was reported on Tuesday night from Kultali of South 24-Parganas when a Trinamul candidate Qutubuddin Gharami was shot at and injured.
Qutubuddin was caught in a clash between ruling party supporters and the SUCI-CPM combine.