Taking a tough stance, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday said suspects of the Rampurhat killings will have to be hunted down and arrested unless they surrender, and asserted that police would ensure the strictest punishment for the culprits.
Mamata, who landed at a helipad near Bogtui village where 8 people were burnt alive early on Tuesday, also promised permanent government jobs to members of the 10 affected families.
"Police will ensure strictest punishment is handed out to culprits responsible for the Rampurhat carnage. The case filed before the court should be water-tight," she said.
The chief minister announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of the kin of the victims, and Rs 2 lakh each for rebuilding the damaged houses.
Those injured will be provided Rs 50,000 each, she added.
"Police has been ordered to throw a dragnet to unearth secret caches of illicit firearms and bombs across Bengal," Mamata said.
Eight people, including two children, were charred to death as nearly a dozen huts were set ablaze in Birbhum district early Tuesday in a suspected fallout of the murder of a ruling TMC panchayat official.
As per preliminary findings of the forensic experts, who conducted the tests on the charred bodies found inside the houses that were allegedly set on fire by unidentified people early on Tuesday, the victims were first badly beaten up and then burnt alive, an official told PTI from Rampurhat hospital.
The security was strengthened in Rampurhat to ensure that no untoward incident takes place during Chief Minister Mamata's scheduled visit.
State Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and a five-member central team of the BJP are also scheduled to visit Bogtui.
Mamata has vowed that strict action will be taken against the perpetrators irrespective of the party affiliation even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the killings as "heinous" and said that the culprits should not be forgiven.
At least 20 people have been arrested so far in connection with the incident, suspected to have been triggered by the killing of a local TMC leader on Monday evening, and several police personnel and civic volunteers removed on grounds of negligence.
Prime Minister on Wednesday, describing the killings in Birbhum a day before, as heinous , said the culprits should not be forgiven.
Speaking at a virtual event to inaugurate a gallery dedicated to freedom fighters at the Victoria Memorial here, Prime Minister Modi said the Central Government is willing to help the state in any way required in bringing perpetrators to justice.
"I express my condolences over the violent incident in Birbhum district in West Bengal. I hope that the state government will definitely ensure that those who have committed such heinous crimes are punished," Modi said.
"I would also urge the people of Bengal to never forgive the perpetrators of such incidents, those who encourage such criminals. The centre would extend all sorts of help to the state government to ensure the culprits are booked," he said.
