A day before Independence Day, West Bengal Police arrested at least five people on Saturday in connection with the murder of a youth leader of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in North 24 Parganas. According to a Times Now report, the deceased leader, Ranajoy Kumar Srivastava, 33, was shot dead near Sandhya Cinema on BT Road in Titagarh in Khardah Police Station area earlier today when he was returning home in his car.
As per the report, unidentified persons stopped the vehicle of Srivastava, who was the chief of the Hindi cell of TMC's youth wing, and hurled bombs and fired a few rounds at him. Later, he was first taken to a hospital in the locality, and died on the way while being shifted to another medical establishment in Kolkata.
Reacting over the murder, TMC's chief for 24 North Parganas, Jyotipriyo Mullick has alleged the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) hand behind the murder to "instil" fear among the ruling party workers in the area.
Apart from him, TMC chief whip in the state Assembly and Panihati MLA Nirmal Ghosh alleged that the saffron party workers killed Srivastava as he had joined the TMC from the BJP before this year's elections.
Claiming that the five arrested people are TMC members close to Nirmal Ghosh, Barrackpore's BJP MP Arjun Singh claimed that Srivastava was never a member of the BJP and the killing was a fallout of "infighting over extortion".
There were reports of booth capturing and violence against political opponents of the TMC in the 2018 panchayat polls in the state but the ruling party had denied charges in most of the cases.
