Bengal Panchayat Pradhan Killed In Bomb Attack, Second TMC Leader To Die In A Week

Following the death of Rupchand Mondal, local people and TMC supporters blocked National Highway 34 while demanding the arrest of the culprits.

Days after a TMC panchayat member was killed in Bengal's South 24 Parganas, leading to violence and torching of several houses, a panchayat pradhan of the party was murdered in North 24 Parganas, PTI reported. Rupchand Mondal was killed by assailants in a crowded market on Thursday.

The assailants hurled bombs at Mondal, TMC panchayat pradhan of Amdanga, at Kamdevpur haat while he was on a call, police told PTI. Mondal was rushed to a nearby health facility and was later shifted to a private hospital in Barasat where he succumbed to his injuries on Friday.

Following his death, local people and TMC supporters blocked National Highway 34 while demanding the arrest of the culprits.

Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh also visited the area and demanded the arrest of the culprits for disrupting the peace and harmony. Singh said it appeared to be "a planned murder and police should find out the perpetrators".

TMC spokesperson Joyprakash Majumdar told media that the BJP and the CPI(M) were "unleashing a reign of terror" in West Bengal's rural belt in the run-up to the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

Majumdar said, "They are targeting our popular leaders with the sole objective to lessen the strength of TMC ahead of the polls. The opposition gameplan will not succeed."

BJP leader and former state president Dilip Ghosh, however, claimed that two factions of the TMC were behind the murder of Mondal.

On Monday, another TMC panchayat member, Saifuddin Laskar, was murdered at Joynagar in South 24 Parganas district. The murder led to widespread tension in the district, with at least 15 houses set ablaze by a mob. Villagers also lynched one of the alleged assailants and another was thrashed before being given over to the police.

On Thursday, CPI(M) leader Anisur Lashkar, the suspected mastermind behind the murder of Lashkar, was arrested, IANS reported. 

CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty has claimed that the murder of Laskar was the result of internal conflict within TMC and CPI(M) had nothing to do with it.