A day after the death of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporter Ullen Roy in Siliguri, a war of words erupted between the Trinamool Congress and BJP.
The 50-year-old BJP supporter had died during the party’s march to State Secretariat building in north Bengal on Monday.
While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged at a public rally that BJP killed its own supporter for publicity and propaganda, BJP leadership and the family members of the deceased maintained that Roy died in police action. “BJP can indulge in canards like a cyclone. They can organise rallies and kill their own people,” the Chief Minister said.
Senior Trinamool Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee said that the “ attitude” of BJP leadership was to provoke police to open fire. Mr Mukherjee like the Chief Minister defended the police and said that there was no offensive from the police.
A court in Jalpaiguri directed that a second post mortem be conducted on the body.
West Bengal BJP leadership raised questions on the hurried post-mortem and said that the family members of the deceased were being pressurised to cremate Roy at the earliest. Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said if the firing was from the rally how did Roy receive injuries on his chest not on his back.
BJP vice president Mukul Roy said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who wanted a CBI probe in every incident before 2011 should let the central agency investigate the matter.
We don’t use says WB police.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day the West Bengal police tweeted that the BJP supporter died due to shotgun injuries, and the police does not use shotgun. In a series of tweets on Tuesday morning the police said it is “obvious that during yesterday’s protest in Siliguri, armed persons were brought and they fired from firearm”. Criminal Investigation Department ( CID) will investigate the death, police added.
“The deceased received pallet [pellet] injuries from a shotgun fired from close range by a person standing near the deceased in the protest program. This is unprecedented. Bringing armed persons in protest programs and inciting them to fire is unheard off,” it tweeted.
