india

Updated: Sep 08, 2019 15:10 IST

A worker of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was shot dead in Bengal’s Nadia district on Saturday night, triggering road blocks by party supporters on Sunday morning.

Babulal Biswas (40), was gunned down at Bapujinagar village of Badkulla area in Nadia district, about 95 km away from Kolkata. The state highway connecting Badkulla and Tahepur was obstructed by Left supporters.

A resident of Dosatina village, Biswas was returning home on his motorcycle. Around 8 pm, when he was passing through Bapujinagar village, some miscreants blocked his path and opened fire from a close range. The bullet hit Biswas on the chest and he died while he was being rushed to the district hospital in Krishnanagar, about 3 km away.

“Babulal Biswas was our active member and used to take a leading role in organising protest movements in the area. His wife Mousumi had contested in the Panchayat Samiti (second tier of the three-tier panchayat structure) election in Badkulla II block. His role earned him the wrath of the ruling party and goons backed by the Trinamool Congress killed Babulal when he was returning home on Saturday,” said Rama Biswas, CPI(M) state committee member and the legislator of Ranaghat (South) constituency.

But Shankar Singh, Trinamool Congress president of Ranaghat area alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party-backed goons had a hand in Biswas’s murder.

“None from our party is involved in the murder,” said Shankar Singh adding “BJP-backed elements were behind the killing. Let police investigate the matter and the truth will emerge.”

BJP leaders, too, distanced themselves from the crime. “Our party does not believe in the politics of bloodshed. Our men are also being attacked by TMC men, and they are responsible for the murder of the CPI(M) worker,” remarked Manabendranath Roy, the organisational president of BJP in Nadia (South) district.

“We have started an investigation and looking to all possibilities,” said V S R Anantnag, superintendent of police in Ranaghat police district.

Political violence is common in Bengal with opposition leaders alleging that at least two dozen political workers have been killed in different districts of the state since the results of the Lok Sabha elections were announced on May 23.