TMC man killed, BJP office gutted in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas

BARRACKPORE: A Trinamool Congress activist was hacked to death by miscreants at Jagaddal in North 24 Parganas late on Wednesday and a BJP party office was gutted in a fire at Titagarh’s Koyrapur early on Thursday, sparking a blame game between the rival political parties.
Akash Prasad, 26, was from ward 12 of Bhatpara Municipality that is on BJP MP Arjun Singh’s turf. “My son got a call on his cellphone on Wednesday night asking him to step out of the house, which he refused.A local youth, Ashoke Shaw, barged in and dragged my son out of the house. His body was recovered late in the night,” said the victim’s father Arun Prasad.
Shaw’s neighbours from Jagaddal’s Palghat Road said the incident took place around 11.30pm. Akash’s body was found lying in a pool of blood in an abandoned field, barely 300 metres from his house. Multiple injury marks indicated that assailants had used sharp weapons, said a Jagaddal police officer. They apparently also burst bombs on Akash to ensure he was dead.
Main accused Ashoke Shaw has been arrested. “We are trying to find out if there is any record of old rivalry that may have led to the murder. We are looking for other suspects,” said a senior police officer of the Barrackpore Commissionerate.
North 24 Parganas’ Trinamool chief Jyotipriya Mullick pointed a finger at Arjun Singh. “The murder was done by people on the instructions of BJP MP Arjun Singh,” he alleged. “Akash was a Trinamool activist from ward 12, where BJP had no foothold. Akash became the target after he brought as many as 123 BJP supporters into the Trinamool fold,” Mullick added.
The BJP MP rubbished the charge and claimed the victim was a drug peddler and snatcher. “He was lynched by a mob after being caught red-handed in a theft case,” Singh said.
In Koyrapur, BJP supporters accused Trinamool of setting the party office on fire. They blocked Kalyani Expressway in protest for over half an hour. Trinamool Congress’s Nirmal Ghosh denied the allegation.