Unable to coerce a BJP candidate to withdraw her nomination, TMC workers allegedly raped her pregnant sister-in-law in Nadia district. The incident happened at Shantipur village of the district on Sunday night, a day after the last date of withdrawal of nominations for the three-tier Panchayat elections.

The female BJP candidate of Shantipur Belgharia II gram panchayat, talking to DNA said that she was under pressure right from the day she had filed her nomination. She said that TMC workers had asked her husband to meet the local TMC leader, on several occasions and they were under so much pressure that they had to leave home and stay at an undisclosed location. “On Sunday, a group of 30 persons had come to our place. While 7-8 broke open my house, the others waited outside. They looted valuables from my house, ransacked my residence and broke three handlooms which we used to make sarees. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law and her three and a half year old son were staying in the adjoining house. They broke open their house, held the child at gun point and beat up the two ladies. My sister-in-law is four months pregnant. She was beaten and raped,” the BJP candidate said.

District Superintendent of Police Santosh Pandey that a police complaint had been filed and a rape case has been initiated. Local BJP leaders said that they stand beside the victim family. “People of the village has been guarding the house of the victim to avoid further trouble,” said Sufal Sarkar, local BJP leader.

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The victim lady had been initially admitted to Shantipur State General Hospital and later was referred to NRS Hospital of Kolkata and is reported to be in a critical state. BJP state Mahila Morcha president Locket Chatterjee went to meet the victim at the hospital in the evening on Monday. BJP female members had heated argument with police as they tried to visit the victim in a group.

BJP MP Babul Supriyo met governor Keshari Nath Tripathi and discussed several poll-related issues with him. “I have told him about the woman who had been raped by TMC goons since her sister-in-law could not be forced into withdrawing her nomination. She has been hospitalised in a serious condition,” Supriyo said.

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Jagannath Sarkar, BJP president, South Nadia alleged that TMC cadres had unleashed terror at various places in Nadia such as Shantipur, Chakdah and Kalyani, threatening BJP candidates to withdraw their nominations or face dire consequences.

Local TMC leaders, however, negated all allegations. “It is a problem arising out of their family issues which they are trying to give a political colour, under the instigation of BJP leaders who had visited their house,” said TMC MLA of Shantipur Arindam Bhattacharya.