2 killed in ‘TMC faction fight’ in Bhangor

KOLKATA: Two Trinamool Congress workers were killed and several people injured in a clash between two factions of the party at Beota village in the Bhangor-II block of South 24-Parganas on Saturday morning. The two factions allegedly clashed over the control of Beota Gram Panchayat. Recently, those allegedly owing allegiance to party strongman and former MLA Arabul Islam moved a successful no-confidence motion against Trinamool panchayat pradhan Satyajit alias Panchu Gopal Mondal.The new incumbent is to take over in the next couple of days.
Trouble started at Beota around 8.30 am when 18-year-old Bapan Mondal, allegedly a member of the Arabul faction, was on his way to work. Barely a hundred yards from his house, a mob accosted Mondal and rained blows on him. After he fell to the ground, Mondal was shot. He died on the spot. Less than a couple of hours after this, a mob stormed the house of Ramesh Ghoshal, a villager close to Panchu Gopal Mondal. The attackers claimed that Ghoshal was among those who killed Mondal. After thrashing his relatives, including women, the mob followed Ghoshal to the roof of his house and pumped six bullets into him, killing him on the spot. Villagers claimed that the police were present in the village at that time but did nothing to prevent the murder.
According to locals, the two blocks of Bhangor are split between three Trinamool factions. One of them is headed by Arabul while the other two are controlled by Kaiser Ahmed and Nanur Hossain. Panchu Gopal and Ghoshal were allegedly close to the Kaiser group. Locals claimed that territory is clearly earmarked, but Arabul is regularly accused of poaching into other’s territory.
“Arabul couldn’t tolerate me. The reason behind is that I wouldn’t allow his men to carry out illegal activities at Beota. I foiled their extortion attempts. For every bigha of land sold, they demanded Rs 6,000 from the seller. I wouldn’t allow this to continue and he was desperate to get rid of me. This is why he persuaded nine of the 11 panchayat members to move the no-confidence motion against me. As per rules, the new pradhan can be sworn in only after 15 days. This will happen in 2-3 days,” said Panchu Gopal, who has gone into hiding.
The former pradhan added that Arabul and his supporters turned up at his house on Friday evening and threatened him. “I tried to reason with Arabul. I nearly fell to his feet and asked why he should hate me so much when we belong to the same party. He refused to see reason and left in a huff,” he said. Arabul, when contacted, refused to comment. Soumen Naskar, the person who has been elected pradhan in Panchu Gopal’s place, said Saturday’s violence was orchestrated by the Kaiser faction.
While it is being alleged that Ghoshal was involved in the attack on Mondal, his relatives claimed otherwise. “A few days ago, he was attacked by people close to Arabul. He received serious injuries to the head. The autopsy report will reveal that there are fresh stitches on his head. He was treated at a hospital in Kolkata and returned home only on Friday evening. He was in no condition to take part in the assault,” said Sabita Ghoshal, a relative.
The mob set Ghoshal’s house and 2-3 nearby ones ablaze after the murder. Though fire tenders reached the village, they were prevented from doing their work by the mob. The police denied that there was any inaction on their part. According to a senior officer, the police team from the Leather Complex police station that was spotted in the village was returning from another assignment. “They had stopped at Beota after getting information of some trouble and did their best to bring the situation under control. One person has been detained and is being interrogated,” a senior officer said.
CPM leader Rashid Gazi, who has been a former pradhan said Saturday’s violence reveals how the Trinamool factions fight among themselves when they are not operating against the Opposition. “All factions come together when it comes to attacking the CPM. Now that they have done with the CPM, they are fighting among themselves. This reveals that party’s true culture,” he said.
Former MP and CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty said“What is bad is the police inaction. Whenever the Trinamool is involved in violence, the police remain mute spectators.” All that Arabul would say is that Saturday’s violence was a conspiracy against him.