Police on Sunday arrested a Murshidabad Trinamul leader, Abdul Latif aka Mithu Sk, for allegedly killing a 52-year-old person.

On Saturday evening, Mithipur villager Kalu Sk demanded a refund of the bribe he had reportedly paid Latif to have his name included in the housing scheme list.

Kalu, after discovering that his name was missing from the state government housing scheme list, approached Latif at a tea stall and demanded the return of the ₹3,000 bribe he had paid to have his name included.

Latif, who had allegedly promised to include Kalu’s name in the housing scheme, assaulted him on the nose and ears, causing him to collapse and bleed profusely before being rushed to the Jangipur subdivisional hospital. Later shifted to Murshidabad Medical College, where he died on Sunday morning.

“Seven months ago, Abdul Latif took a bribe of ₹3,000, promising to get us a house under the housing scheme. He also said we would need to pay an additional ₹7,000when the house funds were sanctioned. Accordingly, we paid ₹3,000 but when the final list of beneficiaries under the Mithipur gram panchayat’s housing scheme was published we found our name missing. When my husband went to demand our money back, he was fatally beaten up,” Kalu’s wife Ismatara Bibi said.

“Based on the complaint filed by the victim’s wife, the police have registered a murder case and initiated an investigation. The prime accused has been arrested,” Jangipur police district chief Ananda Roy said.

Bengal Congress alleged that the spread of corrupt practices by Trinamool in the housing scheme was more extensive than expected, with poor people becoming its victims.

“Trinamool party members are first taking money to include names in the housing scheme and then beating up poor, helpless villagers to death when they ask for their money back. The chief minister, who is also the home minister, occasionally tells fanciful tales about a corruption-free administration. Criminals have now become a part of the system,” the Congress’s chief spokesperson for Bengal, Soumya Aich Roy, said.

The district Trinamul leadership, however, denied these allegations, asserting that the party was not involved in such corrupt practices.

“Our party is in no way involved in such incidents. We have clearly communicated that no one should give money under any circumstances, and strict instructions have been issued to party workers not to accept money,” Jangipur district TMC chairman Jakir Hossain said.

“If anyone has taken money, he has taken it in his personal capacity. The police have arrested him and the law will take its own course,” Hossain added.