Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee Monday said those involved in the killing of party MLA Satyajit Biswas will not be spared and they "will be pulled by the collar and brought back to Kolkata" even if they flee the city.
"If someone feels that he can escape after the killing of TMC MLA Satyajit Biswas, then he is living in a fool's paradise," Banerjee told reporters after visiting the family of the deceased MLA.
"If someone thinks that he can run away to Delhi and escape the law, then he can rest assured that we will pull him by his collar and bring him back to Kolkata," the TMC Youth Congress president and nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, without naming anybody.
Four people, including BJP leader Mukul Roy, were booked on Sunday in connection with the killing of the Krishnaganj MLA in Nadia district. Roy denied the allegation when contacted by PTI. He is currently in the national capital.
Other TMC leaders have also named Roy as being behind the killing.
When contacted, Roy said: "The allegations against me are baseless and politically motivated. I am contemplating legal action. He (Banerjee) didn't name anyone so I won't say anything ... But I will say that wherever TMC leaders and cadre are being murdered, they are blaming the BJP. They (TMC) should first try to control their infighting".
A former TMC MP and right-hand man of Mamata, Roy joined the BJP in 2017 after his relations soured with the chief minister.
The BJP has denied any involvement in the killing of Biswas and claimed that it might be the result of infighting in the TMC.
Abhishek dubbed the saffron party's claims as "propaganda" to "hide its sins".
"If there is infighting (in the TMC), the BJP should name the two groups. Why isn't it naming them? It should. The fact is that the BJP is trying to vitiate the atmosphere ahead of the Lok Sabha elections," he said.
He claimed that the two men arrested in connection with the crime are BJP supporters and that itself revealed the truth.
"We (TMC) will ensure that the BJP losses its deposits in this area (Nadia) in the coming Lok Sabha polls," Abhishek added.
Senior TMC leader and minister Jyotipriyo Mullick, party MP and member of Matua community Mamata Bala Thakur too met the bereaved family at their home.
Biswas, apart from being a MLA and a youth leader, belonged to the Matua community and was known for his organisational skills which had made him important for the
TMC.
"The BJP is trying to get Matua votes in the area and Satyajit had become a hurdle for it because of his organisational skills and popularity among the people," Mullick alleged.
West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said Mullick's allegations were baseless as the BJP has a "strong presence" among the Matuas of the state.
He claimed that BJP's presence in the area has further strengthened after the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
Ghosh threatened that if baseless allegations are made against BJP leaders, the party would hit the streets in protest and also take legal action.
The Matuas originally hail from erstwhile East Pakistan and began migrating to West Bengal at the beginning of the 1950s, mostly due to religious persecution.
With an estimated population of 30 lakh in West Bengal, they can influence results in at least five Lok Sabha seats in Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas districts. However, many of them are claimed to have still not got Indian citizenship.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on February 2 addressed a rally in Thakurnagar area of North 24 Parganas district, the headquarters of the Matua community.
During his rally, Modi had made a strong pitch for the contentious piece of legislation, insisting it would bring "justice and respectability" to those who faced religious persecution.
Meanwhile, two of the four people named in the killing - Kartik Mondal and Sujit Mondal - have been arrested and remanded to police custody for 14 days.
The officer in-charge of local Hanskhali police station and Biswas' personal security officer were suspended amid allegations that there was no security cover despite the presence of the MLA and minister at the Saraswati Puja celebrations venue, where the killing took place on Saturday.
Supporters of the Matua community and the TMC staged protests at various parts of the state and blocked train services, demanding immediate arrests of culprits involved.
Train services were affected in the Eastern Railway's (ER) Sealdah division Monday due to blockade of tracks by agitators at five places, an official said.
The blockade at the five stations - Titagarh, Kanchrapara, Dum Dum Cantonment, Bongaon and Dum Dum - began at around 4 pm, ER spokesman Nikhil Chakraborty said.
The Hanskhali- Fulbari area where the killing took place on Saturday night remained tense for the third consecutive day. A police picket has been set up in the area.
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