30 houses of CPM supporters burned after TMC leader's murder in South 24-Parganas

 The Trinamul leadership blamed the CPM for Saifuddin Laskar's murder and termed the mob fury as a spontaneous outburst

Firemen try to control the blaze at the house of a CPM supporter at Dalauihaki-Laskarpara village of Joynagar in South 24-Parganas on Monday.: Picture by Mehaboob Gazi

Subhasish Chaudhuri, TT, Calcutta, 14.11.23 : At least 30 houses of CPM supporters were torched and a person lynched by a mob after prominent Trinamul Congress leader Saifuddin Laskar, 43, was shot dead at Joynagar's Bamungachi in South 24-Parganas early on Monday.

Laskar was an elected gram panchayat member and the party’s Bamungachi area committee president.

Police have so far arrested two persons. The Trinamul leadership blamed the CPM for Laskar's murder and termed the mob fury as a spontaneous outburst.

The CPM state leadership, however, claimed the lynched person was a Trinamul activist. It hinted at Trinamul's internal feud as the reason for the murder.

Police said Laskar was shot at close range near his home when he was on his way to the mosque at 5am.

He was shot twice on the left side of his neck and rushed to the Padmerhat rural hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Laskar was an elected member of the Trinamul-run Bamungachi gram panchayat headed by his wife Serifa Biwi.

Alerted by gunshots, residents chased the assailants on two bikes who hit a mini truck and fell. The mob managed to nab three of the five assailants in a paddy field and lynched one.

Police could not identify the lynched person, but local sources identified him Sahabuddin Seikh, a local Trinamul worker.

Sources said Laskar had given Sahabuddin Rs 15,000 last week for his daughter’s marriage.

"It is a planned murder. It appears that some local goons were involved. I have told the police to unlid conspiracy,” said Trinamul leader and party’s Baruipur East MLA Bivas Sardar while claiming ignorance about the involvement of any rival political party in connection with the murder.

Trinamul sources said Laskar's father blamed the CPM for his son's death.

Shortly after the death, and apparently instigated by a section of local Trinamul leadership, houses of CPM supporters at adjacent Daluakhaki-Laskarpara village, which is 5km away from the site of the crime, were vandalised and set on fire.

The rampage continued for four hours and left 200 homeless.

The mob resisted firemen too, who could finally enter the village around 11am, two hours after the arson began.

Daluakhaki-Laskarpara villagers accused the police of being mute spectators when goons went on rampage.

"We heard about the murder at 6am. There was no tension in our village. But the situation changed around 9am when groups of armed goons entered our village... singled out houses of CPM supporters and set them on fire. They torched rice barns. They even beat up children," said Alauddin Laskar, a resident of Daluakhaki-Laskarpara village.

"We lost everything except our lives," wept a homemaker.

"A mafia leader was killed and goons patronised by him went on the rampage merely based on suspicion.... As the rampage went on, the police remained inactive. Let the police find out the actual culprits. The incident is similar to the planned retaliation in Birbhum's Bogtui by ruling goons after the murder of a Trinamul leader last year," CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty said.

A local CPM leader said Laskar's "terror" ensured total supremacy of Trinamul in the last panchayat poll.

Superintendent of police, Baruipur police district, Palash Chandra Dhali, said: "One person has been arrested in connection with the murder of the Trinamul leader...We are trying to track the other accused person."

Asked about those involved in the arson in Dalaukhaki-Laskarpara village, Dhali said: "We have started a separate case."

Cops did not rule out a Trinamul feud leading to the murder.

Laskar's wife Serifa Biwi admitted "not everyone" in Trinamul liked him. "But I don't know if it has any link to the murder," she said.