Two men were found killed in a banana orchard at Santipur in Nadia district on Thursday morning and the BJP claimed the duo were its supporters and they had been murdered by Trinamul Congress activists.

A Trinamul Congress worker has been killed in a clash at Baruipur in South 24-Parganas. Six Indian Secular Front activists were arrested in connection with the murder.

In a separate incident, a Trinamul worker was killed and two injured when a crude bomb exploded inside a house at Andal in West Burdwan on Thursday morning.

The bodies of Pratap Burman, 25, and Dipankar Biswas, 36, were found in the banana orchard at Methirdanga village. Police said their face had been smashed with a blunt object. Both were painters by profession.

The BJP said both had belonged to the party. “They were killed by Trinamul supporters to unleash panic among people before the Assembly polls,” said a BJP leader.

BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar, who is also the party’s candidate from Santipur, visited the victims’ home. BJP workers blocked a road connecting the Methirdanga village and held a demonstration in front of the Santipur police station demanding the immediate arrest of the murderers.

Police and family members said Burman and Biswas had been addicted to liquor and had left home on Wednesday afternoon. As they did not return at night, the villagers launched a search and found the bodies.

“It appears the two were killed by people known to them. None of the victims seemed to have any strong political association. Nevertheless, we are looking into all possible aspects,” an investigating officer said.

BJP candidate Jagannath Sarkar said: “Police are trying to suppress the truth. They know well that both the victims were BJP supporters, but are trying to mislead the people at the direction of their political bosses.”

Trinamul’s Santipur candidate Ajoy De rejected Sarkar’s allegation and accused the BJP of politicising the murders.

“None of the two victims was associated with any political party. The family members had also initially told us so. But later, they were compelled by the BJP to change their version,” De said.

At Belegachi in Baruipur, Ruhul Amin Midda, 59, a Trinamul worker died at a hospital after he had suffered critical injuries during a clash between activists of the ruling party and the ISF late on Wednesday night. Six ISF activists were arrested.

Police and local sources said a group of Trinamul supporters had gone to a house and challenged ISF activists who were holding an internal meeting. A clash ensued and Midda suffered multiple injuries. He was taken to Baruipur subdivisional hospital where doctors declared him dead early on Thursday.

Alleged Trinamul workers ransacked around a dozen homes of ISF supporters in the area on Thursday.

Trinamul candidate in the Baruipur East constituency Bibhash Sardar said: “None of us went to disturb the ISF meeting. Rather, ISF supporters attacked our men.”

The Trinamul activist killed in the blast at Andal was Sarwan Chowdhury, 39. Police said preliminary investigations revealed that Chowdhury and two others had been making crude bombs, one of which had gone off accidentally. The other two suffered injuries in the blast.

The area comes under Pandaveswar Assembly constituency where Trinamul turncoat Jitendra Kumar Tiwari is the BJP candidate. His former aide Narendra Nath Chakraborty is the Trinamul candidate.

The police seized explosives and other materials used in crude bombs from the spot at Jambad village. The body was sent to Asansol district hospital for post-mortem.

The BJP alleged that Trinamul workers had been making bombs at the behest of Chakraborty to create terror in the area. Trinamul leaders, however, said the blast had been caused by a cooking gas cylinder.