A day after violence at Joynagar in South 24 Parganas of West Bengal claimed two lives, the region remained on the boil on Tuesday. Villagers of Doluakhaki, whose houses were set on fire in the Monday violence, held protests outside the Joynagar police station, demanding that they be allowed inside their village.
More than a dozen houses of supporters of Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] were set on fire after a local Trinamool Congress leader Saifuddin Laskar was shot dead in the early hours on Monday.
Local Trinamool leadership had alleged that the CPI(M) supporters were behind the murder. Laskar was the anchal (zonal) president of Trinamool Congress at Bamangachi area of Joynagar sub-division. An influential leader of the region, his wife is a panchayat pradhan.
The villagers had taken shelter in a CPI(M) party office and on Tuesday when they wanted to return, they were stopped by the police. A delegation of CPI(M) leaders also visited the village and were stopped by the police from entering.
While a police officer said that only outsiders were not allowed to enter, visuals aired by local television channels pointed out that police stopped a group of women from entering the village.
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According to the police, the CPI(M) leaders were using the women as a shield to enter violence affected villages. Dozens of women gathered and alleged that police did nothing when their houses were set on fire. Utensils, food grains, furniture were destroyed when the houses were set on fire in retaliatory violence to the murder.
There was a scuffle between CPI(M) leaders Sujan Chakraborty and Samik Lahiri with the police. Mr. Chakraborty said that the police did not come to the rescue of the villagers when their houses were burned and were now stopping them from visiting the village. He also alleged that Laskar was killed by another faction of Trinamool Congress.
ISF MLA Nawshad Siddiqui, who represents the neighbouring Bhangar constituency, was also stopped by the police.
Assailant lynched
One alleged assailant Sahabuddin was caught from the Bamangachi area soon after the shooting and was lynched, another was arrested by the police. The wife of Sahabuddiun, one of the suspects in the murder case, said her husband was a Trinamool supporter. The arrested accused was produced before the Baruipur court on Tuesday and remanded in 10-day police custody.
The police have registered three FIRs in connection with the murder and lynching. Anisur Naskar, a local CPI(M) leader against whom the family of the deceased Trinamool leader has levelled allegations of being involved in the crime, remains at large.