BARRACKPORE: Three FIR-named accused were on Sunday arrested in connection with the brutal murder of BJP booth committee president Swikar Bhawal at Halisahar in North 24 Parganas.
The arrested persons were identified as Somenath Ganguly alias Kele Suman, Sudipta Ghosh alias Babai and Suman Saha.
The trio,who were booked under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) IPC, have been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.
Trinamool leaders claimed that the murder was the fallout of a personal enmity.
On Saturday evening, Bhawal (32), BJP’s 42 No. booth committee president and a resident of Halisahar’s Barendrapally, was beaten to death by some bike-borne miscreants while he was leading a “Griha Samparka Avijan” at Dompara Lane of Halisahar. Six others BJP supporters, who were also seriously injured in the attack, are still undergoing treatment in Kalyani JNM Hospital.
On Sunday morning, hundreds of BJP supporters gheraoed the Bijpur police station, demanding immediate arrest of the “masterminds”.The agitators also tried to break the barricades in front of the police station. They scuffled with the cops. RAF and combat force were dep;oyed to bring the situation under control.
Saturday’s incident took place when Bhawal, along with other BJP supporters, was distributing leaflets. Around 12 persons, with sticks, rods and weapons came on four motorbikes and attacked them. “My brother (Bhawal) tried to resist them and they dragged him to a field and beat him up. By the time police came, he had fallen unconscious. When taken to hospital, he was declared dead,” said Sagar, Bhawal’s brother.
Barrackpore BJP MP Arjun Singh claimed that Trinamool-backed goons killed Bhawal, following instructions from some leaders in Halisahar.
The district Trianamool chief and state food minister Jyotipriya Mallick, however, said the murder was the fallout of a rivalry between two BJP factions. “I came to know that the incident took place while two BJP factions clashed over the distribution of leaflets during their Griha Avijan programme. One faction belong to a Trinamool-turned-BJP leader and his son and the other one is led by rival BJP leaders,” he said.
Ajay Thakur, DCP, Zone I, Barrackpore commissionerate, said: “The exact motive couldn’t be ascertained. An investigation is on.”