Bengal Panchayat Election: Dead body of BJP candidate’s relative found in Dinhata

Kolkata (IANS) | The body of a relative of a BJP candidate was recovered from a paddy field at Dinhata in Cooch Behar district on Sunday morning amid ongoing violence ahead of panchayat elections in West Bengal. With this, eight election-related deaths have been recorded in the state since the announcement of election dates for rural body polls on June 8.

The deceased has been identified as Shambhu Das, brother-in-law of BJP candidate from the area, Bisakha Das.

According to Additional District Superintendent of Police Kumar Sunny Raj, the body was recovered from a paddy field in Dinhata area. The body has been sent for postmortem. The police is investigating the matter

BJP’s Dinhata city president Ajay Roy said the violence by the ruling Trinamool Congress has now reached its peak in the entire district. Brother-in-law of our party’s candidate, who himself was associated with BJP for a long time. Allegedly, he was killed by close followers of local ruling party MLA and West Bengal minister Udayan Guha.

Rejecting the allegations, Guha said, there is no politics involved in the unfortunate incident. The deceased person actually had no affiliation with any political party. BJP is trying to add political color to any incident with the intention of defaming Trinamool Congress.

Locals suspect that Das’s murder was an extension of the attack on the convoy of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs and BJP MP from Coochbehar Nishith Pramanik on Saturday afternoon.

The election is to be held on July 8 and the counting of votes will take place on July 11.

–IANS