Unrest in Bengal’s Nandigram after BJP woman worker’s killing
BJP workers burnt tyres, blocked roads and pulled down shutters of shops, alleging that the TMC-backed criminals were involved in the killing of party worker Rathirani Ari in Sonachura village.
KOLKATA: Barely two days ahead of the parliamentary polls, a woman BJP worker was killed in Nandigram in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district, triggering large-scale protests by the saffron party activists there on Thursday, police said.
The region, which falls under the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat and is considered to be the backyard of Bengal’s Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, is scheduled to vote on May 25 in the sixth phase of the elections.
BJP workers burnt tyres, blocked roads and pulled down shutters of shops in Nandigram, alleging that the TMC-backed criminals were involved in the killing of Rathibala Arhi (38), a saffron party worker in Sonachura village.
A large contingent of police and RAF have been deployed in the area to control the rioting mob, police said. No arrests in connection with the alleged murder have taken place yet.
The saffron camp called a bandh in Nadigram as part of its protest but withdrew it later, a local BJP leader said.
Arhi was killed and several others were injured after unidentified and armed motorcycle-borne assailants attacked them late Wednesday night, a police officer said.
“Arhi and several other party workers were tasked with the job of guarding a local polling booth last night after poll campaigns in the area ended for the day. TMC-backed criminals attacked them. She was murdered and others were left badly injured,” the BJP’s district general secretary, Meghnadh Paul, told.
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