3 TMC workers shot, throats slit; party points fingers at BJP

CANNING: Three TMC workers, including a panchayat member, had their throats slit after being shot on their way to a party meeting at Canning in Bengal’s South 24-Parganas, about 55km from Kolkata, on Thursday.
Residents of Kachua found the bodies of Gopalpur panchayat member Swapan Maji and booth presidents Bhootnath Pramanik and Jhantu Haldar along a road about a kilometre from Maji’s home around 9am. TMC alleged that the assailants were linked to BJP, a charge promptly rebutted by the saffron party.
Maji, Pramanik and Haldar were on a motorcycle when another two-wheeler blocked their way, the police said. The assailants first opened fire, causing the trio to fall off their bike, and then attacked them with machetes. They were to attend a preparatory meeting for TMC’s July 21 martyrs’ day rally.
“One of the accused had been arrested a year-and-a-half ago. He seems to have planned the murders after getting out of prison,” Baruipur additional SP Indrajit Basu said. Local TMC MLA Pareshram Das said: “Maji was a veteran TMC worker and very popular. BJP was scared of him. Maji met me a few days ago and said he feared an attack,” he said.
BJP’s district president Bikash Sardar blamed TMC and “post-poll violence” for the murders. “They are now targeting their own after unleashing violence on opposition workers,” he said. State BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar said “intra-TMC power politics” triggered the killings.