A 40-year-old Congress worker was tied to a tree and mercilessly beaten up by suspected Trinamul supporters in Jalpaiguri district on Wednesday night for allegedly protesting against the illegal extraction of sand from local streams.

Manik Roy, 40, succumbed to injuries on Thursday morning. Police have registered a case and arrested five persons.

Sources said suspected Trinamul Congress supporters had dragged out Manik Roy, 40, from his house at Hathat Colony under the jurisdiction of Mainaguri police station on Wednesday night. They fastened him to a tree and began assaulting him.

“My husband used to protest against wrongdoings and hence, a section of local TMC leaders was aggrieved with him. They had earlier vandalised our house and we were forced to leave the village and stay in Siliguri for some years. Yesterday, they beat him up mercilessly, and today he died,” said Swapna, the bereaved wife.

She said Roy had faced pressure from TMC workers to join their party. However, he remained in the Congress.

“He had also protested against the illegal extraction of sand from a stream in our locality. We returned to the village from Siliguri a couple of weeks ago and since then, they had been exerting pressure on him to join the TMC. If he doesn’t do so, they told my husband to remain silent,” she added.

When Roy was being assaulted on Wednesday night, Swapna rushed to the Mainaguri police station.

“A police team reached the spot and rescued my brother, who had lost his senses by then,” said Bijoy Roy, the deceased’s brother.

The police took Manik to the block hospital in Mainaguri from where he was referred to Jalpaiguri Medical College & Hospital. He succumbed to the injuries on Thursday morning.

Mahua Gope, the district TMC president, said if anyone from the party was involved in the incident, Trinamul would not back them.