TMC worker killed; poll violence toll at 6

A day after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that the nomination filing process for the upcoming panchayat polls went off peacefully, a TMC worker was allegedly killed at Malda in north Bengal on Saturday, taking the death toll to at least six in the last eight days

- 

KOLKATA: Police said that the dead has been identified as Mustafa Sheikh, 62. His wife was a former panchayat leader. The victim was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead. Police have detained one person.

“He was beaten to death. The accused are TMC rebels who joined the Congress recently after being denied party tickets to contest the panchayat polls. It is a political murder,” said Sabina Yeasmin, state minister.

“These are baseless allegations. What were the police doing? The police should do a proper investigation. We would never hide any accused,” Congress leader Soumya Aich Roy told the media. The police, however, said that Sheikh was suffering from multiple ailments and his condition deteriorated after an argument with a villager. No major injury marks were found on his body, they said.

Meanwhile, a convoy of Union minister Nisith Pramanik was allegedly attacked with an arrow on Saturday by supporters of the ruling Trinamool Congress in Cooch Behar district, a charge the ruling party dismissed.