BJP Worker Found Dead, Two More Shot at in West Bengal, Party Blames TMC

Kolkata: Hours before the sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal, a booth president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was found dead with multiple injury marks on his body at Gopiballabpur in Bengal’s Jhargram district on Saturday night.

The victim has been identified as Ramin Singh, a resident of Junasole village under Jhargram police station. His body has been sent for post-mortem examination.

BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya alleged that Singh was killed by goons backed by the Trinamool Congress though the local TMC leaders denied the allegation.

Vijayvargiya later tweeted, “For democracy, it’s a sad news. A section of TMC goons entered the house of BJP booth worker Ramin Singh at Junasola, block Gopiballabpur, Jhargram and killed him brutally. He was killed because he was the booth president of the BJP.”

BJP’s Jhargram president Sukhamay Satpati condemned the incident and claimed that for the last few days, Singh was under threat from the ruling party cadres. “We want a high level probe in to the matter and immediate compensation for the family members of victim,” he added.

Local BJP leader Sumit Patra said, “Trouble started when Ramin Singh puts BJP flags in the area despite TMC’s objection. We all went home around 7.30pm after putting up the flags. Around 10.30pm, when Singh came out of the house to wash his hands after dinner, someone hit him on the head with an iron rod. He was brutally beaten to death and assailants led by local TMC leader Kalipada Sur along with his gang fled after the attack.” Singh’s brother Dhiren has demanded a CBI probe in the matter.

In a separate incident, two BJP workers were shot at on Saturday night in Bhagabanpur and East Medinipur. Both have been admitted to hospital.

The state has been rocked by violence and clashes in the previous rounds of voting, with TMC and BJP workers clashing across West Bengal. Apart from Jhargram, Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Medinipur, Bankura, Bishnupur, Purulia are voting on Sunday. The votes will be counted on May 23.

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