The overall death toll in connection to the pre-poll violence in West Bengal over the upcoming panchayat elections has increased to 15 after the nephew of a local Trinamool Congress leader was killed in a crude bomb explosion.
The blast took place at Deganga in North 24 Parganas district on Tuesday night amid clashes between activists of the ruling and opposition parties.
The victim has been identified as Ibram Hossain (17), the nephew of Trinamool Congress leader Md Arsadul Hoque.
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The 15 fatalities have occurred since the polling date for the rural civic body elections was announced on June 8. Addressing media persons, Hoque claimed that he and his nephew were attacked by a joint team of CPI(M) and All India Secular Front (AISF) activists while they were returning home on Tuesday night.
“They hurled crude bombs towards us, killing my nephew. My appeal to the administration is to arrest the assassins and take strong action against them,” he said.
However, the lone AISF representative in the state Assembly, Naushad Siddique has denied the charges and said that the unfortunate incident was a result of infighting in the ruling party.
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member, Santanu Sen said it has become a trend of the opposition parties to first attack and kill the ruling party workers and then cry violence in the state to mislead people.
Police on Wednesday morning arrested five persons in connection with the murder. They will be presented at a lower court at Barasat in North 24 Parganas later in the day.
The development took place a day after the state DGP Manoj Malviya described the incidents of violence and clashes as sporadic.
“Stray incidents of violence and clashes are being blown out of proportion and projected in a big way. There had been a couple of incidents, where the police had taken prompt action. We are working as per guidelines.
The situation is well under control and incidents of violence have come down. The media is projecting minor incidents as major ones. This is not done,” Malviya said. The panchayat elections will be held on Saturday and the counting of votes will take place on July 11.
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