Two persons have been arrested for the gunning down of Trinamool Congress MLA Satyajit Biswas late on Saturday.
The district police registered an FIR naming four persons, including top BJP leader Mukul Roy, while the BJP has blamed infighting in the Trinamool for the MLA’s murder. The officer in charge of the local Hanskhali police station and one of Mr. Biswas’ bodyguards have also been suspended.
Mr. Biswas was shot from behind by armed gunmen near his house in the Phoolbari area of Nadia district in south Bengal when he was attending a Saraswati puja event.
According to one eyewitness, three miscreants “shot at” Mr. Biswas and a country- made revolver was recovered from the area. At the time of the incident, the MLA was surrounded by several local Trinamool activists, the eyewitness said.
Two persons, Sujit Mandal and Kartik Mandal, were taken into custody while three persons have been detained for interrogation, district police officials said.
However, family members of the arrested men have denied their involvement in the incident. Wife of Kartik Mandal said he was not associated with the BJP; Sujit Mandal joined the BJP only recently, his mother said.
Seeks CBI probe
Mukul Roy, former general secretary of the Trinamool and party’s ex-MP from Nadia, also denied any links with the killing.
“The incident is unfortunate. My named is dragged into it to give it political colour. Mamata Banerjee is terrified after witnessing people’s participation in Prime Minister’s recent rallies and thus trying to entangle us in such cases. Biswas was a victim of Trinamool’s internal feud,” he said.
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, “Whenever any violence will take place, the Trinamool will blame the BJP completely suppressing the fact that they have huge internecine factional feud. They are engaged in various kinds of illegal trade like sand mining or soil mining and these killings are connected to the distribution of money.” He has demanded a CBI probe into the killing.
However, several Trinamool leaders who attended Mr. Biswas’ last rites blamed the BJP. “Where is sand or soil mining in Nadia? Satyajit was killed as BJP realised that it is impossible for them to control the area if he is around, ” said Minister and Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Firhad Hakim. Trinamool secretary-general Partha Chatterjee echoed the allegations.
