Malda (West Bengal): A Trinamool Congress candidate for the panchayat election was beaten to death in West Bengal's Malda district, with the party pointing accusing fingers at the Congress. TMC candidate Mustafa Sheikh was on his way home in the afternoon when he was attacked by unidentified miscreants in the Sujapur area and beat him up, police said.
He was later to a hospital where he was declared dead. "We are looking into the case. The body was sent for post-mortem examination," a police official said. According to state minister Sabina Yeasmin, former TMC activists who had joined the Congress after being denied tickets, were behind the attack on Sheikh.
"Out of vengeance, they have killed our official candidate. We have asked the police to take action," she told reporters in Malda. The TMC activists, demanding the arrest of the culprits, organised a sit-in in the area. The district Congress leadership denied the allegations. "The allegation against us is baseless. The killing is due to infighting within the TMC. It has nothing to do with us," a Congress leader said.
Malda, a minority-dominated district, is considered a stronghold of the Congress. Widespread violence over the filing of nominations for the July 8 three-tier panchayat polls has left at least six people dead and several injured in various parts of the state.
What exactly happened with Sheikh?
Sheikh was a well-known Trinamool activist in Sujapur village panchayat area. His wife Jibu Bibi won the 2013 panchayat elections on a Trinamool ticket and became the head of Sujapur village panchayat. However, Sheikh or his wife refused to be a candidate this time. They focused on strengthening the party organisation. In particular, Sheikh took a special role to ensure the party candidates win in the upcoming Panchayat Elections 2023.
According to village sources, he worked tirelessly from morning till night. However, there are allegations against him of running illegal gambling in the area. Allegedly, his accomplice in this work was local Trinamool leader Sohrul Biswas's brother Safiqul. According to local sources, Sheikh went to pray at the mosque this afternoon. While returning from there, he got into trouble with some people.
It is learned that the dispute was over the gambling money. It is alleged that he was beaten to death because of Sheikh's daughter-in-law Akhtari Khatun. “My father-in-law was returning home after performing prayers. Then Asmaul and Mannan started trouble on the street. I don't know what they were arguing about. My father-in-law told them that the vote will be settled well. Then they beat up the father-in-law to death. Someone brought my father-in-law home from the street. My father-in-law was a heart patient. Five years ago they also attacked the father-in-law. They have no specific group. We want strict punishment for them,” she said.
Minister Sabina Yasmin went to comfort Sheikh's family members after receiving the news. "Very unfortunate incident," she said. "It is a political murder. We have not given tickets to those who killed Sheikh. They have destroyed the core of our party. So they switched over to Congress and managed tickets. Today they beat our ex-chief's husband to death to gain votes. We are complaining to the administration and Election Commission demanding severe punishment for the killers," the minister added.
However, district Congress Vice President Mottakin Alam claimed that Trinamool's complaint was baseless. "Extremely unfortunate incident. But this incident has nothing to do with politics. We have information that the man was beaten to death by his gang over a dispute over money from an illegal gambling party. We also demand a full investigation of the incident. But the person who was murdered was also involved in the attack on our candidate Isha Khan Chowdhury during the assembly elections. There are multiple charges against him," said Alam.
Meanwhile, Trinamool activists blocked National Highway No. 12 at Sujapur and demanded strict punishment for the murderers. They lifted the blockade after an hour following the assurance from the police. Following the murder, the state election commissioner called the district magistrate and sought a report on the matter.
Also read: Bengal: 3 shot dead in clashes during panchayat poll nomination filing
