Beldanga turns battleground over worker’s death in J’khand
Times of India | 17 January 2026
Beldanga (Murshidabad): An irate mob blocked NH-12 in Beldanga for around 6 hours on Friday morning, protesting with the body of a 34-year-old migrant who died in Jharkhand. This also halted multiple long-distance trains in the Sealdah–Lalgola section. Alauddin Seikh alias Alai Seikh, the only son of his parents, left home 10 days ago to go to Jharkhand's Daltonganj for work. He was a hawker. With his father physically disabled, he was the family's only earning member.
On Wednesday afternoon, he rang his mother, Sona Biwi, and told her he was scared of the "Hindu–Muslim divide". On Thursday, his body was found hanging in the rented room where he stayed. The room was locked from within, and locals broke the window to enter. The body returned to his Beldanga home on Friday morning.
Villagers took the body to Maheshpur on NH-12 and blocked it. The crowd swelled to several hundred. Some spilled on to the railway tracks between Bhabta and Beldanga stations. Tyres were burnt and stones were pelted as private buses, SUVs and trucks stopped on both lanes of the crucial highway. Lalgola–Sealdah passengers also could not take the train.
The protesters even forbade mediapersons from filming the agitation and blockade and beat up several journalists. Soma Maity, a journalist, received injuries to her legs and waist, while cameraperson Ranjit Mahato was admitted to Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital with head injuries and internal haemorrhage.
Senior police officials tried to convince the protestors that the Bengal govt would compensate the victim's kin and provide a job to the widow. But the protesters were unrelenting. They claimed the govt should put a stop to migrants being targeted for speaking Bengali outside Bengal.
As their son's body remained on the streets with the protesters around noon, Nekbas Seikh, the victim'sdisabled father, appealed: "We only demand that after Alai's death, the govt gives a job to his wife. He has a 3-year-old daughter. Else who will feed us? The CM assured us that." Sona said: "We want peace. The CM spoke to us sympathetically over the phone and assured us help. Nothing can compensate for a life. Still, I request you (the protesters) to stop the agitation so others do not face any problem. It will bring a bad name to Beldanga. I urge the govt to punish those responsible for the death."
Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee spoke over the phone with Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, urging swift identification of the culprits and strict action. Soren assured him that Jharkhand Police were treating the matter seriously.
After this, the mob started thinning, but some remained. Police superintendent Sunny Raj and district magistrate Nitin Singhania reached the blockade spot and spoke with the remaining protesters.