The same phase seems to be starting once again in Bengal, which has faced violence after the assembly elections. On Monday, 10 people are reported to have died in the violence that erupted after the killing of a TMC panchayat leader. The houses of these people were set on fire, in which they burnt alive and died. Apart from this, there are also reports of injuries to a large number of people. Police said Bhadu Sheikh, the deputy head of Barshal gram panchayat in Birbhum district, was murdered on Monday. Only after that this arson incident happened in the night, in which 10 people were burnt alive. Bhadu Sheikh was a resident of Bogtui village.
Locals say that the arson was carried out by members of a faction of TMC. However, the Trinamool Congress has denied these allegations. Birbhum district TMC president Anubrata Mondal claimed on Tuesday afternoon that the fire was not set during the violence. He said that the arson was caused due to short circuit and due to that the houses caught fire. Rejecting the attack on the part of TMC workers, Mandal said, “People’s houses were set on fire due to short circuit and that is what led to the deaths.” There was no violence on Monday night.
Fire brigade staff said – we were also stopped from extinguishing the fire
A fire brigade employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they had found at least 10 houses destroyed by the fire. “We were also stopped by some local people from dousing the fire,” he said. So far we have got 7 bodies from one house. They are so badly burnt that it is not even known whether the victims were men, women or minors. At present, a large number of police forces are deployed on the spot and the area has been cordoned off. Minister Firhad Hakim and Rampur Haat MLA Ashish Banerjee are reaching the spot in Mamta government.
Sheikh was killed by 4 people riding a bike
TMC’s Panchayat leader Bhadu Sheikh was attacked by four motorcyclists. The attackers had their faces covered, so they could not be identified. Soon after the bullets fired, Shaikh was taken to the government hospital in Rampur Hat, where he was declared brought dead. It is being said that this incident happened due to the ongoing rivalry between the two factions of TMC itself. Due to this, a large number of houses were vandalized and they were set on fire.