West Bengal: BJP worker stabbed to death in east Midnapore

BHAGABANPUR (EAST MIDNAPORE): A 38-year-old BJP worker was found lying on the road with multiple stab wounds in Bhagabanpur Block-1’s Mohammadpur late on Saturday. Locals said Chandan Maity, also known as Sambhu, was taken to Bhagabanpur hospital, where he was treated. But he died while while being shifted to Tamluk hospital.
BJP said Maity was a ‘shaktipramukh’ and threatened an agitation if the killers were not arrested.
According to sources, Maity was at home on Saturday when unidentified persons barged in around 8pm and abducted him. His wife, who had gone out to celebrate ‘bhai phonta’, alerted neighbours when her calls to him went unanswered. The neighbours launched a search and Bhagabanpur police were also informed.
Maity was found lying in a pool of blood hours later, several kilometres from home. Police said the body bore multiple stab wounds and he had died of excessive blood loss. Based on the hospital report, police have lodged a murder case.
BJP immediately blamed Trinamool Congress for the killing. The party’s organisational district president, Nabarun Naik, said: “Chandan was an able organiser. He was being targeted ever since TMC lost the Bhagabanpur assembly seat to BJP by a huge margin. He was threatened and attacked repeatedly after the elections. The culprits need to be arrested immediately. If the police don’t, we will launch a larger agitation.”
“Goons allegedly sheltered by Trinamool lynched him,” Bhagabanpur BJP MLA Rabindranath Maity claimed.
Trinamool dismissed the allegations. The party’s Contai organisational district chairperson, Abhijit Das, said: “TMC has nothing to do with it. They (BJP) perhaps do not know the victim well. He had cordial relations with TMC local workers. He has been working with us closely in the gram panchayat. BJP here is beset by strong infighting and area domination struggle. We hope the police will unearth the truth.”