In a harrowing turn of events, seven people were found charred to death and another burnt severely died in the early hours of Tuesday within an hour after the alleged murder of a Trinamool Congress (TMC) panchayat leader late on Monday.
The eight victims could not be identified immediately. Their bodies were recovered after their house caught fire at Rampurhat in Birbhum district, reports local media citing police. Some media outlets, citing their sources, also reported the sounds of bombing during the arson.
The body of Bhadu Sheikh, the TMC panchayat deputy chief of Barshal village, was earlier found in the area.
Anandabazar Patrika reports that Bhadu’s followers launched the arson attack, leading to the arrest of many suspected arsonists.
Officials said 11 people have been arrested from the area as of Tuesday afternoon and the inspector-in-charge and sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Rampurhat have been suspended. A huge police contingent has also been deployed in the area to avoid chaos centering the deaths.
A senior police official, Manoj Malaviya, told reporters in Kolkata that seven of the burnt bodies were found from a gutted house, while the eighth and last person succumbed to burn wounds in a local hospital.
"The situation is now under control and a police picket has been established in the village since last night. We are investigating how the houses caught fire and whether the incident is related to the death of the panchayat deputy chief of Barshal village," he said.
Asked about claims by some fire brigade officials that 10 bodies were found, the top police officer clarified while seven of them were recovered after the blaze was brought under control, three injured persons were rescued; of whom one died in a hospital.
The state government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by the additional director general of police (CID), Gyanwant Singh, to probe the incident.
“Every death is unfortunate. Whether it is a separate incident or connected to the death of the leader who was killed hours before can’t be ascertained right now. Let me first visit the spot,” said state minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim.
The ruling TMC has also sent a three-member MLA team led by Firhad to the spot to take stock of the situation.
TMC Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal said the police will nab the killers of Sheikh. “Footage of security cameras installed around the crime scene is being examined,” said Mondal.
TMC’s spokesperson Kunal Ghosh claimed that the eight fire casualties were not connected to politics.
“The deaths due to the fire incident in Rampurhat is unfortunate. But it has got nothing to do with politics. It is a local conflict. Yesterday (Monday), TMC’s deputy gram pradhan was killed. He was popular. People were angry. The fire incident took place a few hours after the incident at night. The police and fire officials are taking action,” said Ghosh.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party legislators staged a walkout from the state assembly and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
