Death at doorstep as TMC rejoices - Tea hand dies as crackers burst

TT. Oct. 20: A 60-year-old man, who the CPM claimed as its supporter, died after protesting Trinamul celebrations with fire crackers outside his home following the ruling party’s capture of the North Dinajpur zilla parishad this afternoon.

Haripada Roy, a tea garden worker in Chopra, came out of his house to protest along with neighbours around 2pm. An argument ensued. Police said there was a scuffle between the supporters of Trinamul and the CPM, which lost control of the zilla parishad today.

The CPM claimed Haripada was attacked, but there was no confirmation from the police on this. Trinamul, too, claimed Haripada to be its supporter, and said the man died of a heart attack, not because of a Trinamul assault, as the CPM claimed. The police said the post-mortem would make clear the cause of death.

Trinamul also denied that its supporters had burst fire crackers outside Haripada’s home.

The tea worker collapsed near his home, was taken to the Chopra block hospital, about 20km from his village Kotegachh and was pronounced dead on arrival.

North Dinajpur was one of only two zilla parishads remaining with the Left. Now, it has only Jalpaiguri zilla parishad in its control.

In the 26-member North Dinajpur zilla parishad today, Trinamul bagged 17 votes.

Trinamul had five board members, but six from the Left’s 13 members (12 of the CPM and 1 of the RSP), and six of the Congress’s eight members have switched to the state’s ruling party.

The death caused tension in the area, the police said. A mob torched the house of Hasibul Rehman, a Trinamul supporter of Kotegachh. They also set on fire a motorbike parked in front of the house of Hasibul.

The CPM Chopra zonal committee member and saha-sabhapati of the Chopra panchayat samiti, Mukleswar Rehman, said: “Haripada Roy was our active supporter. Trinamul supporters deliberately burst crackers in front of his house and lobbed some inside the premises. When Hariapada came out to protest he was beaten up. He fell ill and died. Trinamul-backed miscreants have been creating terror all over the district. We demand that those responsible for our supporter’s death be arrested immediately.”

Chopra Trinamul MLA Hamidul Rehman said his party was not involved in the incident.

“The Trinamul Congress is not involved in any way. Haripada was our supporter. I have learnt that he was suffering from heart ailments and had died of heart attack. The CPM is trying to reap political benefit by blaming us,” he said.

In North Dinajpur’s Raiganj, Alema Noori was elected the sabhadhipati and Purnendu Dey the saha-sabhashipati of the newly formed North Dinajpur zilla parishad.

Trinamul all-India general secretary Mukul Roy was present during the voting.

Noori was among the CPM members who had switched to Trinamul.

A no-confidence motion against the Left board was moved on September 12. On September 25, the motion was put to vote and the Left lost the board.