Trinamul worker Rabindranath Manna, 46, who had gone into a coma after allegedly being thrashed by BJP goons in East Midnapore’s Balarampur on the night of March 27, died at SSKM Hospital in Calcutta on Friday evening.

Balarampur falls under Nandigram Assembly seat, from where chief minister Mamata Banerjee contested against aide-turned-BJP rival Suvendu Adhikari.

“Manna, who was admitted at (the SSKM) trauma centre, passed away today. Who killed him? BJP killed him. The person who killed him was not arrested. It seems to me that polling is going on by implementing Article 356 (President’s rule),” said Mamata in the evening.

Manna’s death triggered an outpouring of anger from Trinamul supporters in Nandigram and its adjoining areas on Friday afternoon, when the body was taken back to his village by state water resources development minister Saumen Mahapatra.

Trinamul workers agitated in front of Nandigram police station for over two hours demanding the immediate arrest of the culprits.

“We are surprised that though chief minister Mamata Banerjee visited our home and assured us of help, no action has been taken on arresting the perpetrators of this crime yet,” said Raju, Manna’s son.

Asked, Trinamul’s Nandigram election agent Sheikh Sufian alleged a conspiracy.

“The Election Commission is working for the BJP thus no arrests have been made. We will be taking out a protest rally in the afternoon tomorrow (Saturday) regarding this injustice,” he said.

The Telegraph reported on April 1 how the chief minister had made a detour to Balarampur village, 10km from her final election rally in Nandigram the evening before, heeding the desperate pleas of Raju who had reached out to her from the post-rally crowd.

Mamata had alleged to reporters that BJP goons and “outsiders” had overrun several parts of the district including Balarampur, where Manna had been severely attacked a few evenings before that.

Manna’s family admitted that the chief minister’s personnel had taken care of all medical expenses.

BJP district vice-president Pralay Pal, however, said the party had nothing to do with Manna’s death. “This is a result of Trinamul infighting, they are trying to pin the blame on us,” he said.

Body found

In a similar development in nearby Bhagabanpur, the body of a BJP worker was recovered with several injuries on Thursday. It was identified as that of migrant worker Shambhu Barui, 22, from Garbari village. The body was found two days after he went missing.

Sources said Barui had come home to vote. BJP workers on Friday filed a complaint and protested in front of Bhagabanpur police station demanding justice and alleging Trinamul’s hand in the death. Trinamul sources denied the allegations.