Violence erupts in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar, 2 dead; EC seeks report

KOLKATA: Violence rocked Cooch Behar’s Sitalkuchi assembly constituency in poll-bound West Bengal on Saturday resulting in two casualties while three others got critically injured. An 18-year-old first-time voter was reportedly shot dead while in another incident, one person was killed and three others got critically wounded, Debasish Dhar, superintendent of police (SP), Cooch Behar district, confirmed.

The first incident took place around 8 am, within an hour after the polling in 44 constituencies took off. “The deceased has been Ananda Barman, 18. He was a first-time voter. We have arrested two people in the matter,” Dhar said. While the BJP claimed that Barman was a party supporter, the TMC alleged he was shot by BJP supporters. The incident followed a clash between BJP and TMC workers and supporters near booth number 285.

As per the police, in the second incident, the central force personnel were attacked and the casualty occurred when they fired in retaliation. The death toll may further rise, SP Dhar said.

Sporadic incidents of violence have also started pouring in from other parts of the district. The Election Commission has sought a report in the matter.

The TMC has alleged that BJP workers did not allow its polling agents to enter the voting booths at many places under Dinhata assembly constituency.

Malati Rava Roy the BJP Cooch Behar district committee president said, “Barman belonged to the BJP family as his elder brother is the head of the local committee under Boleynauhati gram panchayat. It was the TMC goons who killed him.”

Rabindranath Ghosh, a senior TMC leader and the North Bengal development minister denied the involvement of TMC supporters in the incident. “It was BJP activists who, in their desperate move to create fear psychosis, killed Barman,” Gosh said.