The alleged assault and death of a Bharatiya Janata Party worker in West Bengal’s Nadia district have sparked a political firestorm ahead of next year’s assembly election, with the party claiming that the attackers were associated with the ruling Trinamool Congress.

The TMC has denied the allegations.

According to the police, the victim has been identified as Sanjay Bhowmik. In its police complaint, the victim’s family claimed a group of men that included “driver who worked for a Trinamool Congress MLA” barged into their house in Nabadwip city Wednesday night while they were all asleep and assaulted the 39-year-old functionary with iron rods and sticks.

When his mother tried to intervene, she was also assaulted, the complaint alleges.

Krishnanagar Superintendent of Police K Amarnath told The Indian Express, “A preliminary enquiry revealed that they were consuming alcohol and got involved in a dispute, which led to the incident. However, we received a complaint last night and are probing the allegations. An investigation is ongoing.” No arrests have been made yet.

Bhowmik was eventually taken to the Nabadwip State General Hospital Thursday morning, where doctors declared him dead.

The family has asked for the post-mortem to be conducted at Kalyani AIIMS, alleging that one of the four accused works as the driver of the local TMC MLA. While a probe is on, no arrests have been made yet.

After the assault, the suspects allegedly surrounded the house all night, the complaint goes on to allege. “The family claimed that they could not take the injured youth for treatment at night due to fear of the accused,” the complaint states.

Bhowmick’s death, which comes months ahead of the Bengal Assembly polls, has become a political flashpoint in the state. The BJP called the attack politically motivated, claiming that all suspects belonged to the TMC.

“They think that by killing BJP workers, they can win elections in the area,” state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya told the media. “The TMC will be nil in the interior area of Nadia. Just wait for a few months, and things will turn. We know that police will not arrest anyone in this case. Relying on the police would be foolish. Even when TMC workers die, they seek the CBI. We will expose these people, even if it means pulling them up from Paatal Lok (the netherworld), once we come to power.”

On his part, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Tanmay Ghosh described the incident as “very sad” and that “the administration will take strict action against those involved in this incident”. He also denied it had anything to do with the incident.

“I don’t think the Trinamool Congress needs to do anything like this. Because, politically, we fight. There is no situation where BJP people have to be killed. They will lose the elections anyway. Is there a need to kill them? Trinamool doesn’t believe in this culture,” he said.

Arup Chakraborty, an MP from Bankura and another spokesperson of the TMC, claimed that the BJP “has this habit of doing politics over deaths”. He also referred to the death of BJP functionary Arjun Chaurasia, whose alleged death by suicide sparked a row.

“I hope people remember one Arjun Chaurasia who had died, (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah had come and said he was hanged and ordered a postmortem at Eastern Command hospital… It was found to be a simple suicide case. There are many such instances where BJP has claimed a murder but it turned out to be suicide. A person has died, let police investigate, find out who was behind it and ensure legal action,” he said.