Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday expressed “pain” over governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s “sweeping and uncalled for comments on the law-and-order situation in the State” in the backdrop of the “unfortunate incident” that has so far claimed eight lives at Bogtui village in Birbhum.

Mamata wrote the letter after Dhankhar in a video message on Tuesday said he was “considerably pained and disturbed at the horrifying barbarity at Rampurhat”, and that this was “indicative of law and order nosediving in the state”.

She said her government was “saddened” at the loss of lives and had taken immediate action..

“The State administration has taken immediate steps not only to take action against the local police officers posted in the sub-division but also formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the cause of the incident. 10 persons have been arrested so far,” Mamata wrote.

She added in her letter that almost all senior members of the Birbhum district administration were currently present at Bogtui. “I have also asked the Director General of Police to immediately proceed and ensure that the perpetrators of the heinous crime are arrested...,” she wrote.

Mamata wrote to the governor that the possibility of a larger political conspiracy to malign the state's image could not be ruled out.

She referred to the Monday murder of the deputy chief of the local panchayat, Bhadu Sheikh, who she claimed was “an important TMC party functionary”. “The political identity of the perpetrators of the crime is subject of the investigation,” she wrote.

Mamata reminded Dhankhar of his silence on “more heinous incidents” in BJP-ruled states. “Our state is always peaceful, barring a few sporadic incidents. But whenever an unfortunate incident happens in West Bengal, you leave no stone unturned to castigate and malign the State Government. Your utterances and statements have political overtones which provide support to other political parties to browbeat the Government,” she wrote.

She requested Dhankhar to refrain from making “unwarranted statements” and let the administration conduct “impartial investigation” to unravel the truth and punish the guilty.