NEW DELHI, March 30: A BJP “fact-finding” committee submitted its report to the party national president J P Nadda in Delhi on Wednesday on the Birbhum violence in West Bengal in which eight people, mostly women and children, were locked up and burnt alive in Bogtui village last week.
The state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said the committee in its report had highlighted the law and order situation in West Bengal and sought Central intervention in the State. He said Nadda “expressed concern at how such a massacre can take place and how the police play such an irresponsible role.”
Along with Majumdar, former Uttar Pradesh DGP Brij Lal, Mumbai ex-police commissioner Satya Pal Singh and retired IPS officer Bharati Ghosh were part of the BJP committee that visited the village and submitted the report to Nadda.
Accusing the BJP of disrupting free and fair inquiry into he the heinous incident in the aftermath of the killing of a local Trinamool Congress leader, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday expressed serious reservations over the BJP delegation submitting a report to Nadda. She said interference by a party at this stage would mean misleading and distorting the investigation and people would lose confidence in the probe being conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation at the behest of the Calcutta High Court.
“I condemn this type of attitude. The government must see [take note], when any incident happens anywhere in the world, when investigation is on, there should not be any interference from party side or any side,” she stated. The Chief Minister, who is visiting Darjeeling district, called for a free and fair investigation into the violence. “Investigation must be free and fair. Party interference at this moment absolutely means misuse and abuse of power. This misuse of power will mislead the investigation, distort the investigation and people will lose confidence about the investigation,” she observed.
After the CBI was asked to probe into the incident, the Trinamool Congress leadership, including the Chief Minister, had said “if the CBI, at the instance of the BJP, makes an effort to indulge in politics of vendetta, there will be protests and mass agitation.” On Wednesday Banerjee accused the BJP of already targeting TMC Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal. She alleged that they wanted him arrested. “This is very unfair, people are not getting justice and forcefully they want to evict all political parties,” she said.
At Bogtui, the scene of the heinous crime, some villagers who had fled the village after violence returned to their homes under police protection. Three more persons have been arrested in connection with the murder of Bhadu Sheikh.
(Manas Dasgupta)