BDA chairperson’s conviction leads to end of political rivalry
The Statesman | 30 March 2025
A Burdwan fast track court, after four days of conviction, pronounced judgment against the chairperson, Burdwan Development Authority and 12 of her political colleagues today, pushing the convicted persons behind bars.
This possibly has put an end to a recurrent political vendetta that began in the 1980’s with the murder of former MLA Kashinath Tah of Congress. He was the father of Kakoli Tah Gupta, the chairperson of the Burdwan Development Authority.
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The judge, Fast Track Court-II, Burdwan, Arvind Mishra ordered three years of punishment for the ‘sick’ BDA chairperson and 10 years for others.
The same fast track court granted temporary bail for the BDA chairperson against a Rs 20,000 personal bail bond late yesterday.
On Wednesday, the judge had recorded the live video submission of Kakoli pertaining to the conviction of an attempted murder case registered on 5 September 2017 at Nari village close to Burdwan town. The video submission was transmitted from the superspecialty hospital where Kakoli currently is undergoing treatment.
Sandhya Pal, wife of one Debu Pal of Nari village close to Burdwan town lodged a complaint against 15 persons, including Kakoli after Debu lost his right eye in the 2017 attack on him. The court had acquitted two persons during the trial period. Debu is the father of Jibonkrishna Pal, former elected member of the local Ryan panchayat and the member of the rival faction of that of Tah’s.
Apart from holding the charge as chairperson, BDA, Tah also holds the position of block president of the ruling Trinamul Congress over the years. Her father Kashinath Tah, then a Congress leader was murdered allegedly by the CPI-M cadres on 11 August 1980 allegedly by the CPI-M cadres. Later, after the Trinamul Congress assumed the office in 2011, Pradip Tah and Kamal Gayen, the CPI-M leaders accused in Kashi’s murder, were hacked to death at local Dewandighi locality.
Biswajit Das, lawyer for the convicted persons, had submitted medical reports of the BDA chairperson before the court.