Elected members of the Trinamul-run Raiganj panchayat samity in North Dinajpur district shut down the samity office since Friday afternoon “indefinitely”, alleging highhandedness by Trinamul’s Raiganj MLA Krishna Kalyani.

Kalyani won on a BJP’s ticket in the 2021 Assembly polls but later defected to Trinamul.

The incident brought to light rifts within the party as another Trinamul MLA of the district’s Hemtabad, Satyajit Barman, stood by members who accused Kalyani of calling them over and misbehaving with them on Friday while “talking about tenders”.

“We closed the samity office in protest,” said Manash Ghosh, deputy chief of the samity.

Kalyani alleged corruption in the panchayat body over awarding of tenders and denied charges of misbehaviour. “I didn’t even call anyone, they came to meet me on their own,” he said. “I told them that tender processes should be transparent. We have information that some criminals control the tender process.”

MLA Barman said “some people” were trying to control how a samity should run and how members should act.

“This is direct interference in a rural body and we are against it,” said Barman.

Truck mows down four in Cooch Behar

Representational Image File Picture

Four persons died and around 10 others suffered injuries when a dump truck went off the road and mowed down pedestrians at a market in Tufanganj of Cooch Behar district late on Saturday afternoon.

Sources said the truck was moving through Maruganj along NH31 when the driver lost control of the vehicle. It skidded off the road and entered into Pakurtala Market, mowing down the four pedestrians one after another.

The three deceased are Basudeb Ghosh, Billu Das and Kshitish Karjee. The fourth victim is yet to be identified.

The injured have been admitted to the MJN Medical College and Hospital here.

Our Correspondent