The victim, Prithviraj Naskar, was in charge of the BJP’s social media cell in Mathurapur organizational district.
According to the police, their team broke open the front door and a collapsible gate locked from inside of the party office, retrieved the body and sent it for post-mortem to the Diamond Harbor Police morgue.
A senior police officer said that following a preliminary investigation and tracking of mobile phones, the arrested woman was picked up from a nearby locality and during interrogation, she confessed to having hit the deceased with sharp weapons resulting in his death. It was being investigated if she was aided and abetted by anyone else, he added.
“We are exploring the angle of the deceased having been involved in a relationship and any quarrel with the arrested person,” police told mediapersons.
Naskar’s family said that he could not be found since last Monday night and they had filed a missing complaint at the Usti police station on Thursday. According to family sources, Naskar always carried three phones and attempts to contact him on all three phones were unsuccessful because they either rang unanswered or were switched off.
The family came to know that his body was lying inside the party office on Friday night. “I was not at home. At night, my wife called me and informed me that my brother was killed. I am not in a position to say anything. I don’t know who did this. The place where his body was found was a party office, but was not used much. The room was locked from outside. We demand strict punishment for the killers,” the deceased’s elder brother said.
Naskar’s father, meanwhile, claimed that his son had earned the wrath of some local TMC activists and police after putting up placards seeking justice for the RG Kar victim during the recent Durga Puja festival. “My son was warned of dire consequences by local TMC leaders for organising protests on the R G Kar issue during the festive season,” the father said.
The Trinamool Congress has pointed to BJP’s factional conflict in this incident. Imran Hasan, the youth leader of the ruling party in the area, said, “They received a lot of money during the Lok Sabha elections. This incident is due to conflict with his share-sharers. BJP does politics of murder.”
Senior TMC leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh claimed that the BJP knows the exact reason behind Naskar’s death but peddles falsehoods implicating the TMC. In a post on X, Ghosh claimed that there are reports about the deceased having personal enmity with more than one person.
The BJP, in response, has pointed fingers towards the TMC for the incident. Local BJP leader Ashok Purkait said, “Its a conspiracy. Prithviraj was an active BJP activist… We have no faith in the administration. This murder was committed by the TMC.”
— With PTI