Eight people, including three women and two children, were brutally thrashed before being burnt alive in Bogtui village of West Bengal’s Birbhum district. This has been revealed in the post-mortem examination of the dead bodies. An official of the Rampurhat hospital said that as per the preliminary findings of the forensic experts who conducted the post-mortem and other tests of the bodies, the victims were first severely beaten up and then burnt alive.
A total of eight people, including two children, were burnt to death after a dozen houses were allegedly set on fire in Rampurhat’s Bogatui village in the early hours of Tuesday. The incident happened within hours of the alleged murder of Trinamool Congress panchayat level leader Bhadu Sheikh on Monday.
After the murder of the Trinamool Congress leader, around a dozen houses were allegedly torched with petrol bombs in Bogatui village on the outskirts of Rampurhat town. It is said that some people set fire to houses in retaliation for the murder of their leader. The police have arrested many people in this connection. The state government has suspended several administrative and police officers for alleged negligence.
Security has been tightened in Rampurhat to avoid any untoward incident during the scheduled visit of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. A senior police official said CCTVs have been installed around the helipad. Terming these killings as a heinous crime, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the culprits should not be forgiven. The Bengal government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Additional Director General of Police (CID) Gyanwant Singh to probe the incident. The Union Home Ministry has sought a detailed report on the incident from the state government.
Mamta said, the accused will get strict punishment
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that the suspects in the Rampurhat violence case will be traced and arrested if they do not surrender and the police will ensure that they get the harshest punishment.