Twelve people were murdered in West Bengal, Birbhum district after their houses were set on fire to get vengeance over a political murder.
In West Bengal, there were around 10-12 houses that were set on fire early Tuesday morning when a mob of villains locked up the houses with the residents inside and horrifically set them on fire. A total of 10 dead bodies have been recovered, 7 dead bodies were retrieved from a single house.
The twelve people from West Bengal’s Birbhum district died in a fire early on Tuesday. Local sources said they were set on fire to avenge the murder of a Trinamool Congress leader.
The previous day, unidentified assailants threw crude bombs at TMC’s panchayat leader, Bhadu Pradhan, in Birbhum’s Rampurhat on Monday. The incident occurred in the Rampurhat area of Birbhum, almost a week after two councillors were gunned down in West Bengal.
The unidentified assailants hurled crude bombs at TMC’s Bhadu Pradhan in Birbhum’s Rampurhat on Monday. Pradhan was close to State Highway 50 when miscreants threw crude bombs at him. He was rushed to Rampurhat Medical College, where he was pronounced dead.
They murdered him just a week after two councillors in West Bengal were shot by unknown assailants. Last Sunday evening, a TMC councillor was shot in North 24 Parganas’ Panihati, and a Congress leader was shot in Purulia’s Jhalda.
West Bengal | Around 10-12 houses were set on fire last night. A total of 10 dead bodies have been recovered, 7 dead bodies were retrieved from a single house: Fire officials on death of several people after a mob allegedly set houses on fire and killed a TMC leader in Birbhum. pic.twitter.com/KOW2ldlCgy
— ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2022
Birbhum district magistrate, fire officials, and the local police rushed to the spot after the incident.
The body of Bhadu Sheikh, the TMC panchayat deputy chief of Barshal village, was found in the area on Monday, police said. Further investigation is underway in the matter.
While the incident was suspected to be the fallout of rivalry between two factions of the ruling party, TMC General Secretary Kunal Ghosh tweeted saying that the incident has nothing to do with politics.
“Deaths of the locals in fire incident is sad. But this incident has no political connection. This is a local village dispute. The panchayat deputy chief who was murdered was a well-known person and his death has angered the villagers, leading to the violent protest. The fire incident took place at night but cops and fire brigade took immediate action,” Kunal Ghosh said in a tweet in Bengali.
A Birbhum district police officer said Bhadu Sheikh’s brother, Babar Sheikh, was shot dead a year ago in the same village.
It is said that 91 TMC MLAs have pending criminal cases, 73 are serious. Out of 293 MLAs analysed during West Bengal Assembly elections in 2016, 107(37%) MLAs had declared criminal cases against themselves.