Dinhata town in Cooch Behar turned into a battlefield after a BJP leader of the town was found hanging at the premises of a local veterinary hospital.
Hundreds of BJP supporters hit the streets in protest, alleging that Amit Sarkar, 50, the president of the party’s Dinhata town mandal committee was killed and hanged by Trinamul. They blocked roads, tore down Trinamul flags, festoons and banners and set those on fire. They also ransacked at least seven offices of Trinamul in and around the town.
Policemen went to the spot to recover the body but were stopped by the agitated supporters. Party supporters also attacked the police with bricks and stones when they tried to clear the roadblocks. Police retaliated with batons and fired teargas shells.
Shop owners hurriedly downed their shutters, and by the afternoon, the town bore the look of a curfew.
Nisith Pramanik, the BJP MP of Cooch Behar who is contesting from Dinhata Assembly seat, has demanded a CBI probe. Udayan Guha, the sitting MLA and the Trinamul candidate, has denied charges of wrongdoing.
Sources said some residents of Dakbungalowpara of the town spotted Darkar’s body on the veterinary hospital campus in the locality. The body was hanging from a ceiling at a veranda of the hospital.
As the news spread, BJP supporters started assembling in the area and they stopped the police team from recovering the body.
Pramanik, the MP and the BJP MLA candidate, reached the spot. He alleged that Trinamul killed their party leader and hanged him.
“It is a planned murder and Udayan Guha (the local Trinamul MLA and also party's candidate in the seat) is behind it. Amit Sarkar was a popular leader of the town and was steadily developing our organisation. That is why he has been murdered. We want a CBI probe into the incident and do not have any faith on the state police and administration,” said Pramanik.
More and more BJP supporters assembled in various locations of the town, many took down Trinamul's flags, festoons and banners, piled them and torched them at a prominent crossing of the town and blocked a road.
As policemen asked them to clear the road, an altercation ensued. Some pelted stones and bricks at the police, prompting the latter to retaliate with batons and teargas.
The BJP supporters also attacked Trinamul offices and seven offices of the party, including two in Dinhata. The house of a Trinamul leader in Bhetaguri on the outskirts of the town was attacked.
More police forces reached the spot and brought the situation under control.
MLA Guha slammed the BJP violence. “Any death is unfortunate but the manner in which BJP tried to politicise it is condemnable. We want the police to find out the truth,” he said.
The Election Commission has directed the special police observer to visit the spot and submit a report.
Police said they have found a chit with names and contact numbers of three persons from the clothes the deceased was wearing.
“His wife has filed a complaint with us. We have come to know that he went missing from home on Wednesday early morning. We are waiting for the post-mortem report,” said a senior police officer.
In Birbhum, two BJP workers got injured and several crude bombs were hurled at the house of a BJP worker, Gorachand Mondal, allegedly by Trinamul-backed goons in Birbhum’s Nanoor on late Tuesday night. Police seized 40 crude bombs from Bejra village in Nanoor. Trinamul however denied the charge and blamed drunkards at the rally.
Additional reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty in Bolpur
