Amid continuing violence in the run-up to the July 8 panchayat elections in West Bengal, one person died in a blast in Beldanga in Murshidabad district on June 24. With this blast the death toll reached to 10 since the announcement of poll date on June 8.
This was the third death reported from Murshidabad district, which also witnessed the first casualty in poll-related violence on the very first day of nomination filing on June 9.
As per the reports the man died was allegedly planting the crude bomb. The man has been identified as Aleem Shiekh. As per the sources, several people, including Sheikh, were planting bombs in the area’s jute plantations in the morning. Following the plantation of the bomb one of them suddenly exploded leaving many people severely injured.
The police have recovered 20 crude bombs from the spot of the incident.
News agency PTI reported, Twenty-six-year-old Alim Sheikh got critically injured in the incident in Murshidabad district and was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead. The three that have survived are being treated in the same hospital, said a police official. The deceased hailed from Kapasdanga village in Beldanga and had a history of criminal records.
The Congress party alleged that Trinamool congress workers were planting bombs for polls. Although the Trinamool Congress is denying the incident, Beldanga Police has started investigating the matter.
Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury lashed out at the administration for “failing to check incidents of violence” and seize crude bombs from the rural areas.
“The TMC has turned Bengal into a bomb-making industry. Miscreants backed by the ruling party are making bombs while the police remain inactive. This is being done to create unrest in the state ahead of the election. We strongly condemn such violence and ask the police to take strong action against the miscreants,” said Chowdhury.
Murshidabad district has been the epicentre of poll-related violence ever since the announcement of poll date 16 days back.
Ex-MLA of Congress of that area Safiujaman claimed that it was done by TMC, but an MLA of the TMC party denied the allegation.
In another incident, three people sustained minor injuries after someone hurled crude bombs at them during a clash between the Trinamool Congress and Congress activists. As per the police, the clash broke out in Murshidabad’s Raninagar. This led to a war of words between the ruling and opposition parties with the BJP and the Congress accusing the TMC of engaging criminals to make crude bombs in order to spread panic ahead of the Panchayat polls.
BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said that the incidents reveal TMC’s gameplan which is to intimidate opposition candidates and restrict the voters that support the Opposition from stepping out of their houses and vote.
Bengal Congress president and Berhampore MP Adhir Choudhury said, “Miscreants sheltered by the TMC are making bombs to trigger widespread unrest ahead of the rural polls. We don’t have faith in police as they are not taking action against local-level Trinamool leaders.”
TMC state spokesperson Joy Prakash Majumdar defended his party by saying that the number of deaths and injuries from such incidents has gone down drastically since the party came to power in 2011. He added that there was no evidence that could prove TMC’s involvement in the Beldanga incident. He further claimed that the opposition was making false charges at the ruling party. He then accused the BJP and Congress of involving miscreants to make bombs that would create disturbances in the state and reflect its image in negative light.
Even at the time of filing this report, inter-party clashes were reported from the Raninagar area in the same district.
