india

Updated: Jul 28, 2019 14:18 IST

The body of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker, who was an accused in the murder of a Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker and had gone missing, was fished out of a canal in the Goghat area of Hooghly district early Sunday.

The body of Kashinath Ghosh, 45, was found in a canal at Kota village in the Nakunda area of Goghat, about 90 km west of Kolkata. The BJP has accused the TMC of murdering Ghosh.

“Kashinath was an active worker of our party. He was killed by goons sent by TMC,” BJP’s organisational president in Arambag area, Biman Ghosh said.

Kashinath Ghosh was one of the accused in the killing of Lalchand Bag who was beaten to death at Nakunda on the night of July 22. BJP leaders, however, denied the allegation.

“Lalchand’s murder was the fallout of internal conflicts in TMC. They are blaming us to save the real culprits. Six supporters of our party have been arrested on the basis of false allegations. And now they have killed Kashinath who played a strong role in organising BJP workers in the area,” said Ghosh.

TMC leaders rubbished the allegation. “We do not believe in the politics of violence and murder. I have heard that the body of a man, who is known to be a BJP supporter, has been found. Let police investigate the death. BJP names our party after each and every incident,” said Dilip Yadav, district TMC president.

Samir Dey, officer-in-charge of Goghat police station, said, “Prima facie it can be said that there were injuries on the body and it looks like murder,” he said.

Lalchand was beaten to death, allegedly by BJP workers, after he attended the TMC’s Martyr’s Day rally in Kolkata on July 21. The rally is the party’s biggest annual event and addressed by Mamata Banerjee. Local people alleged before the police that Lalchand did not pay any heed to threats from BJP workers who asked them not to go to Kolkata. Around 20 people were named in the FIR and six BJP workers have been arrested so far.