india

Updated: Oct 11, 2019 19:25 IST

The body of a 42-year-old priest, who was missing since Monday, was found in Bengal’s Nadia district on Thursday, triggering a spat between leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Supriyo Banerjee’s body was found in a pond near Bagdebitala area in Shantipur, about 100 km from Kolkata.

“He (Supriyo) went out pandal hopping on Mahanabami evening (Monday) on his motorbike. When he did not return, we went looking for him We found the two-wheeler but could not locate him. His body was found from a pond on Thursday. We suspect that he was killed somewhere else and the body was dumped in the pond,” said Supriyo’s elder brother Subrata.

Supriyo’s wife died about two years ago and he used to stay with his two minor daughters, Shyamashree and Tanushree. Shyamashree is a student of class 8, while Tanushree studies in class 5.

“The priest was our active worker. He was killed somewhere else and then his body was disposed of in the pond. We are sure that he was killed by TMC goons and the police helped them to dump the body. We demand appropriate punishment for the killers,” said Jagannath Sarkar, the MP from Ranaghat, who is also a BJP leader.

Sarkar also demanded that there should a departmental enquiry against the policemen who helped the TMC workers.

Rejecting any connection of their party workers with the crime, Shankar Singh, TMC president of Ranaghat organisational area, said, “Any death is to be mourned. But there is no political connection with this death. Let the police investigate and catch the culprits if Supriyo Banerjee was killed.”

“We have started an investigation and detained three people for questioning,” said Laltu Halder, a sub-divisional police officer (Ranaghat). “We have heard that the priest had gone to a spot where alcohol was being consumed. We have to find out whether anything happened there,” said the police officer.

The incident comes against the backdrop of BJP leaders planning to submit complaints to President Ram Nath Kovind and Union home minister Amit Shah about the murder of BJP workers and supporters in West Bengal.