Six days after student Sourav Chowdhury’s ghastly murder turned into a political controversy, and with the relatives of the victim expressing their ire against the State government and the ruling party, Trinamool Congress general secretary Mukul Roy met the family members on Friday.
The Trinamool Congress also organised a public meeting in the Bamongachi area in the North 24 Parganas district, where the incident took place. Senior party leaders, including Food Minister Jyotipriya Mullick and other leaders, Bratya Basu and Chandrima Bhattacharya, were present.
Though Mr. Roy faced some opposition from the locals in the area, the family members of the student allowed him inside their residence, and he spoke with the victim’s father and brothers.
“He assured that exemplary punishment will be meted out to the accused in this case,” one of brothers of the victim said.
The main accused in the crime Shyamal Karmakar was arrested on Wednesday from Tarapith in the State’s Birbhum district.
Addressing the public meeting, Mr Roy said he did not want to indulge in politics over the murder, but assured that the State government would ensure punishment for the guilty.
The Trinamool Congress leader said while political parties in the Opposition were demanding that the investigation in this case be carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation, in several cases the Central agency had failed to bring out the truth.
Addressing the rally, Mr. Mullick lauded the efforts of the State police in arresting the main accused in the case.
Meanwhile, Law Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, who was present at the gathering, courted a fresh controversy by stating that Sourav Chowdhury was associated with the student wing of the Trinamool Congress.
However, the student’s family condemned the statement saying that there should be no politics over his death.
