Three days after the body of an 18-year-old BJP worker, Trilochan Mahato, was found hanging from a tree in Purulia district of West Bengal, that of another saffron party worker, Dulal Kumar, was found hanging from a high tension electric pole.

On Saturday morning, locals in the Dava village of Balarampur police station area of the district, spotted Kumar’s body. The situation turned volatile as villagers clashed with the police when they tried to take the body for the post mortem.

Locals and the BJP have alleged murder; while, police officials are claiming it to be a case of “suicidal hanging”.

Kumar, the BJP top brass said, was a district leader of the party’s OBC cell. Mahato, on the other hand, was the son of BJP’s dalit leader, Pano Mahato.

Rise of BJP in Purulia

The recently concluded Panchayat elections in West Bengal has seen BJP emerge as the primary opposition to the ruling Trinmool.

And, Balarampur block in Purulia, where both the alleged murder have been reported, is the BJP’s most prominent stronghold. The saffron party won all seven panchayats in this block.

In fact, across Purulia, while the Trinamool Congress won 839 gram panchayat seats, the BJP managed to won 645 seats. Of the 38 Zilla Parishad seats, Trinamool won 26 and BJP nine.

BJP lashes out

Prakash Javadkar, the Union Minister for Human Resource and Development, who was in the city on Saturday, claimed it to be case of “political murder”. According to him proper investigation is not being done by the state government.

“This is a political murder… As we have said there is no investigation being done by the state government. People will teach the government,” he said.

BJP President Amit Shah tweeted alleging that Mamata Banerjee’s government “has completely failed to maintain law and order in the state”. “Distressed to know about yet another killing of BJP karyakarta Dulal Kumar in Balrampur, West Bengal. This continued brutality and violence in West Bengal is shameful and inhuman,” Shah said.

The State BJP leadership brought out rallies in Kolkata called for a 12- hour bandh in Purulia on June 3.

TMC reacts

The ruling Trinamool Congress, on the other hand, has claimed a feud between the Bajrang Dal and BJP or even the involvement of Maoists as probable reasons. Party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP, Derek O Brien in a tweet has said that “all angles relating to the killing” must be probed.

“We strongly condemn this despicable killing. All angles must be probed.The perpetrators of this heinous act must be punished. What role did Jharkhand border have to play? What elements of Bajrang Dal, Maoist or BJP involved. Let the truth be found out through proper investigation,” the TMC MP tweeted.

While the state government has ordered the CID to probe into the deaths, the BJP leadership has demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

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