The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday sought a detailed report from the West Bengal government on the death of at least eight people in Birbhum district. This move of the ministry comes at a time when nine BJP MPs from Bengal met Home Minister Amit Shah and sought his intervention and action in the incident.
At least eight people were burnt to death on Tuesday when unidentified miscreants torched several houses in Bogtui village of West Bengal’s Birbhum district.
West Bengal Police Chief here confirmed the incident. Earlier, the fire brigade officials had put the death toll in the incident at 10. It is feared that this incident has been carried out in retaliation for the murder of Badhu Sheikh, the deputy head of the Trinamool Congress-controlled panchayat body on Monday evening.
Sources said that a fact-finding central team may soon be sent to the state to assess the situation, but there is no official confirmation about it so far. Officials said the ministry has asked the West Bengal government to maintain law and order and ensure the safety of the general public in the wake of the incident.
He said that the state government has been asked to send a detailed factual report regarding the incident at the earliest. Eight people, including two children, were killed when a fire broke out in some houses in Birbhum district’s Rampurhat in the early hours of Tuesday, police said.
State Director General of Police (DGP) Manoj Malviya told reporters in Kolkata that the incident happened hours after a Trinamool Congress (TMC) panchayat-level leader was killed in the early hours.
Malviya said bodies of seven people were recovered in one of the burnt houses, while one person with severe burns died in the hospital.
A nine-member delegation of BJP MPs, in a memorandum to the Home Minister, alleged that the post-poll violence in West Bengal is continuing and the law and order situation in the state has deteriorated.
The Trinamool Congress had won the West Bengal Assembly elections held in April 2021. Referring to the Birbhum incident, the MPs claimed that 10 people were burnt after the murder of a panchayat up-pradhan (deputy chief) in the area.
He urged Shah that strict cognizance should be taken of the fact that a panchayat leader was killed in a bomb attack. The MPs urged Shah to take cognizance of the “rapidly deteriorating law and order situation” in the state and take necessary appropriate action to bring this situation of violence under control.
“We cannot allow the lives of our citizens to be put at risk due to the rising political terrorism in the state,” the delegation said. We will be grateful to you for your timely intervention in the matter and taking strict action against the perpetrators.
The MPs also apprised the Home Minister of the political violence in West Bengal in the recent past. He alleged that more than 50 BJP supporters were killed by “TMC goons” in the state after the 2021 assembly elections.
The MPs claimed that an attempt was made to kill Jagannath Sarkar, the BJP MP from Ranaghat constituency, on March 19.