Bharatiya Janata Party blamed for death of Trinamul worker in Cooch Behar
Telegraph | 25 January 2024
The death of a Trinamul worker sparked tension in Cooch Behar on Wednesday, with Trinamul accusing the BJP of having a hand in his murder.
Trinamul leaders alleged that Bablu Baishya, 34, a small-time trader and party member of Dinhata subdivision, was fatally attacked on Tuesday by BJP cadres, which the saffron camp denied.
Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, the Trinamul MLA of Sitai, and Nur Alam, a Trinamul member of the Cooch Behar zilla parishad, led a sit-in demonstration from 10am to 3pm at Gosanimari, some 34km away from Cooch Behar town, on Wednesday. The Gosanimari market stayed closed.
Dipali Baishya, Bablu’s wife and a resident of Uttar Jambari village, claimed that her husband left home after getting a phone call from one Manoj Kumar Dey Sarkar of Dakshin Jambari village around 12.30pm on Tuesday.
“Construction work of our house is on. My husband (Bablu) after getting the call left the house with Rs 3 lakh. He told me that after meeting Manoj, he would buy some construction materials and then return home,” she said.
“But within half-an-hour I came to learn from my neighbour that Manoj had taken my husband to Gosanimari primary health centre. I rushed to the health centre to find him bleeding profusely. Injury marks was spotted on his back and forehead. I believe it is a pre-planned murder,” she said, adding that she filed a complaint against nine persons at Dinhata police station.
Sitai’s Trinamul MLA said Bablu had been an active Trinamul member.
“He was brutally killed by the goons of the BJP. We demand the police arrest all the culprits immediately.”
District BJP leader Ajay Roy denied these charges. “The deceased was a goon and those who killed him were also criminals ,” he alleged. “Trinamul is making false allegations against our workers,” he said.
Police have arrested two persons so far in this case.