Nanoor clash in West Bengal: ‘TMC worker’s life could have been saved’

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“Two groups had clashed with crude bombs and firearms at Singhi village in Nanoor and this spread to nearby villages like Gidaha. Khokon Sheikh was found lying in a field. He had been shot in the thigh,” said a senior police officer.

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“His life could have been saved. But members of his own group didn’t cooperate with police in taking him to hospital. Valuable time was lost. He was taken to the hospital, where he was declared dead,” said Birbhum SP Sabyasachi Mishra.

Members of the group to which Sheikh belonged had also allegedly set the local Trinamool Congress office on fire. Meanwhile, the TMC has denied the allegations of factional feud claiming that the “attack was engineered by CPM”. The police officers, however, said that it was a result of the ongoing feud between TMC strongman and MLA Anubrata Mondal and Sheikh Kajal, brother of TMC’s Sheikh Shahnawaz.

“We don’t believe in politics of murder. So far as I know, CPM backed goons attacked the village and looted houses of our supporters,” Mondal had said Monday. Hazra, who lost the Nanoor seat, is a loyalist of Mondal.

Pradhan, the newly-elected CPM MLA, too, claimed that “our workers are in no way involved in this clash”.

The police, meanwhile, also blamed the media for presenting a picture that benefits them.

“This area is almost two hours from Nanoor. Technically, it comes under the Bolpur police station. But saying that its in Nanoor makes the media’s job easier. There is an automatic elevation to the incident and it becomes a part of the propaganda being used by both the ruling party and the opposition,” said a senior police officer.