Kolkata: A Trinamool Congress worker was killed in a clash in Birbhum district on Tuesday as stray incidents of post-poll violence were reported across West Bengal following the BJP’s landslide victory in the assembly elections, police said.
In other incidents, there were reports of arson and vandalism at TMC offices in Kolkata’s Tollygunge and Kasba, in Baruipur, Kamarhati, Baranagar in the suburbs, and in Howrah and Baharampur in the districts by mobs holding BJP flags since Monday afternoon.
A senior police officer said Abir Sheikh, TMC’s Nanoor Anchal Committee member, was hacked to death during an argument with “another group”, at Santoshpur village under Nanoor. Sheikh died on the spot while another person, whose identity was not known, was injured, he said, adding police reinforcements were rushed to the area where tension prevailed.
The TMC MLA-elect from Nanoor, Bidhan Majhi, claimed that Sheikh was an active member of the party and was killed by BJP goons in the area.
However, BJP leader Shyamapada Mondal said none of their party members was involved in the attack and police should undertake a free and fair investigation to find out the accused.
TMC MP Sagarika Ghosh also shared a video of the body with a caption – “horrifying, chilling”.
In a post on X, Ghosh said, “TMC worker killed in widespread violence”.
The TMC said in its official X handle, “brutal murder of our party worker in Birbhum’s Nanoor. Modi’s idea of poriborton begins. Deceased name Abir SK.”
The party in another post claimed an old woman was brutally attacked by BJP workers in Alipurduar town. “She has sustained multiple injuries – on head too,” the TMC said, attaching a purported image of the woman.
PTI, however, could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
In earlier incidents of arson, the election office of TMC candidate and former minister Aroop Biswas was vandalised by a mob at Bijoygarh-Netajinagar area of Tollygunje. Some among the crowd were seen kicking the broken hoarding before leaving.
At Ruby Crossing, Kasba, the office of TMC councillor Sushanta Ghosh was rampaged by a crowd holding BJP flags.
In Panihati Assembly constituency, where the RG Kar Hospital rape-murder victim’s mother, Ratna Debnath, trounced TMC’s Tirthankar Ghosh by 28,836 votes, an office of the Mamata Banerjee-led party changed hands overnight.
TMC Noapara candidate Trinankur Bhattacharya and Barrackpore’s Raj Chakraborty were allegedly manhandled while they were leaving the counting centres and had to be escorted out by CAPF personnel.
“Their goons led a violent attack on our party office in Murshidabad. Vandalism and chaos — this is the real face of the BJP. This marks the BJP’s descent into gutter politics,” it said.
Alleging that its candidate at Udaynarayanpur in Howrah was assaulted, the party said, “Brutal attack on our candidate Samir Panja was a testament to their violent mindset. This is not democracy; this is sheer thuggery.”
TMC candidate in north Kolkata’s Maniktala, Shreya Pande, shared on social media a clip of a middle-aged party leader with his shirt soaked in blood and alleged that the man was her election agent who was beaten up by BJP workers after the counting of votes.
She lost to the BJP’s Tapas Roy by a margin of 15,644 votes.
The TMC posted on social media a video purportedly showing its party office in Siliguri being set ablaze. PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage.
