Post-Poll Bloodbath: 5 Dead, Scores Injured in Violent Clashes in West Bengal
Kolkata/Berhampore: The bloodbath over the Panchayat Election continues in West Bengal as five more people including two Trinamul Congress workers have died while several others were injured in the post-poll violence in the districts since Tuesday night.
Among the five victims, two were killed during clashes between the Indian Secular Front (ISF) activists and police at Bhangor and Kashipur areas in South 24 Parganas after 12 am. ISF workers allegedly hurled bombs and opened fire after their candidate lost to TMC narrowly.
Bhangor ISF MLA Nowshad Siddiqui however blamed the police of attacking his party workers first. Later two ISF supporters, Hasan Ali (26) and Raju Mollah (35), were found lying dead with bullet injuries. Additional SP M. Hasan and another cop were also shot at.
They were admitted to a hospital. To restore normalcy, prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code have been promulgated by the district administration in Bhangor and Kashipur with a heavy deployment of central forces and police.
At Raidighi of the district, a TMC worker, Biplab Haldar, was hacked to death allegedly by BJP supporters. He was from Chandpasha village in Kashinagar. In Malda, a TMC worker, Mafizuddin Sheikh (50), succumbed to his injuries he had suffered after coming under attack on a victory rally of his party on Tuesday.
He was in the procession led by their party leader, Tarikul Sheikh, who won at Khempur gram panchayat in Chanchol. Suddenly their rival faction in the TMC attacked them. Mafizuddin was admitted to Chanchol Hospital where he lost his battle for life on Wednesday.
Meanwhile an injured Congress worker, Rajesh Sheikh, from Sagardighi in Murshidabad died. He was beaten up by TMC workers during polling on July 8. Rajesh was admitted at a hospital in Kolkata where he succumbed to injuries on Wednesday.
In another incident, a TMC worker, Asikul Islam (25), was hurt at Shamshergunj of the district in the morning. He was with others in their party's victory rally at Debidaspur village in Tinpakuria village. Some Congress workers hurled bombs on them.
Asikul was admitted with injuries to Murshidabad Medical College & Hospital. In the afternoon, 10 villagers were hurt when two TMC factions hurled bombs on each other at Sekendra gram panchayat in Raghunathganj over victory rally. 50 houses were ransacked.
Breaking her silence, chief minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her "sadness" on the deaths in the poll-violence and gave a "free hand" to police to arrest the culprits. She also put the death toll in the pre-poll and poll-day clashes at 19 and 7 respectively. The figure however actually stood at 37 in total.
Accusing the opposition parties of triggering the unrest, the TMC chief indicted them of defaming the state outside but downplayed the incidents of clashes as "stray." She further questioned a BJP fact-finding team's visit to the troubled areas and suspected of a bid to fuel unrest again.
"Such teams are meant to protect the BJP only. Why don't they visit Manipur which has been burning or Uttar Pradesh where people are killed in encounters?" Ms Banerjee asked.
