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National

Fresh violence in West Bengal

Special Correspondent

— PHOTO: SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH

Police breaking up a demonstration by Trinamool Congress supporters outside Writers Building in protest against violence during panchayat polls in West Bengal.

Kolkata: Fresh trouble erupted in Basanti in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district on Thursday — a day after the area was rocked by violence in which supporters of two Left Front constituents, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Revolutionary Socialist Party, had clashed during the panchayat polls.

The wife of a nephew of Irrigation Minister and senior RSP leader, Subash Naskar, who hails from the area, was injured in a bomb explosion during the disturbances in the afternoon. She was rushed to a hospital here with severe burn injuries. Doctors said that her condition was very critical.

State leaders of the RSP alleged that Mr. Naskar’s ancestral house was attacked with bombs, allegedly by supporters of the CPI(M). The police are also checking on reports that the bombs that exploded had been stockpiled in the premises of the house.

A team of the Criminal Investigation Department along with forensic experts left for the area, Home Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakravarty said here.

Supporters of the CPI(M) and the RSP clashed for the second day running in different areas of Basanti in which there were heavy exchanges of bombs. Additional police forces have been deployed in the area.

So far 50 persons have been arrested in connection with the violence in the area since Wednesday, Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said.

The incidents were a sequel to the violence that had flared up there during the polls on Wednesday in which four persons were killed. While three of the victims, including a woman, were stated to be supporters of the RSP, the other was a local leader of the CPI(M). There will be a re-poll in the Basanti area.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee asked two Ministers belonging to the district — Mr. Naskar and Minister for Sunderbans Affairs Kanti Ganguly, of the CPI(M) — to hold a meeting with district and police officials to find ways to restore peace in the Basanti area.

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