In the first alleged incident of post-poll violence in the state, a Congress supporter, Debdeep Chatterjee, who was reportedly beaten severely by alleged Trinamul Congress (TMC) workers, died today.
Prasenjit Puitundi, Congress candidate for the Asansol North Assembly seat, along with other supporters, staged a protest with the body and laid siege to the Asansol South police outpost.
Meanwhile, the Asansol police have picked up three persons, who were close to local TMC councillor from Kumarpur area after scanning the CCTV footage of the main gate of the Ananya Housing Complex. Congress candidate Prasenjit Puitundi said that he will move to Calcutta High Court seeking NIA investigations. He has demanded the arrest of the local councillor.
Mr Puitundi alleged that, fearing defeat in the polls, “frustrated” TMC workers attacked Debdeep Chatterjee late last night. Chatterjee, who lived in a multi-storey housing complex, was allegedly assaulted outside his residence while returning home after being found alone. He succumbed to internal and external injuries in the early hours of today at his residence.
Notably, there were no major incidents of violence such as bombing, stabbing or firing during yesterday’s Assembly polls across 152 seats in the state. For the first time in many decades, no deaths were reported on polling day during either Assembly or Lok Sabha elections.
However, with a high voter turnout, political tensions in the state have risen, as rival parties claim that the electorate has voted in their favour, leading to clashes.
For the first time in three decades, a Congress candidate is contesting from the Asansol North Assembly seat. In 1996, Tapas Banerjee of the Congress had won the seat (then known as Asansol), defeating the CPI-M candidate.
No formal FIR had been lodged at the Asansol South police outpost at the time of reporting. The victim is survived by his wife and a child.
The police outpost is located a short distance from the residence of labour minister and TMC candidate Moloy Ghatak, as well as the headquarters of the Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate.
Senior TMC leader V Sivadasan refuted the allegations, stating that the party was not involved in the incident.