Rampurhat: Taking a tough stance, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday said suspects of the Rampurhat killings will have to be hunted down and arrested unless they surrender, and asserted that police would ensure the strictest punishment for the culprits. Banerjee, who landed at a helipad near Bogtui village where 8 people were burnt alive early on Tuesday, also promised permanent government jobs to members of the 10 affected families. "Police will ensure strictest punishment is handed out to culprits responsible for the Rampurhat carnage. The case filed before the court should be water-tight," she said.
The chief minister announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of the kin of the victims, and Rs 2 lakh each for rebuilding the damaged houses. Those injured will be provided Rs 50,000 each, she added. "Police has been ordered to throw a dragnet to unearth secret caches of illicit firearms and bombs across Bengal," Banerjee said. Eight people, including two children, were charred to death as nearly a dozen huts were set ablaze in Birbhum district early Tuesday in a suspected fallout of the murder of a ruling TMC panchayat official. She took a helicopter from Dumurjola Stadium in Howrah and landed on a helipad near the village amid tight security.
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The Chief Minister also separately spoke with the family members of slain local TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh. One of his family members fell ill while describing their ordeal to Banerjee. Meanwhile, a Trinamool Congress delegation met Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday and sought the ouster of West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar as a political fight over the horrifying Rampurhat killings.
TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay spoke in Lok Sabha about his meeting with Shah. The home minister told the delegation that there was no politics over the issue and that firm punishment should be given to the guilty, he said. After the meeting, Bandyopadhyay told reporters that his party has demanded that the governor be removed, alleging that he was working against constitutional norms. "Parliamentary system is under threat from him," he said.
In Lok Sabha, BJP MP Saumitra Khan rushed to the Well from his seat in the last rows, shouting angry comments against the state's TMC government and sat in the aisle briefly, alleging that Bengal has become a "land of terror". Congress member Gaurav Gogoi also slammed the state government for not allowing the party's leader in the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to visit the site of the violence and stopping him nearly 90 km away from the spot, saying it is a blow to democracy. Khan's angry tirade in Lok Saba drew sympathy from many other BJP members but Speaker Om Birla expressed his displeasure, saying the House cannot run in such a manner.
PTI
