Fourth suspect held in Murshidabad murders; political tussle continues

Kolkata: A fourth suspect in the April 12 murder of a man and his son during the communal violence in Bengal’s Murshidabad district has been arrested, Ananda Roy, superintendent of Jangipur police division where protests against the newly enforced Waqf (Amendment) Act led to rioting, said on Sunday.

The violence claimed three lives in Murshidabad. Haragobindo Das, 72, and his son Chandan Das, 40, were hacked to death by a mob at Jafrabad village in Samserganj. The third person, Ezaz Ahmed, 25, was killed in firing by security forces.

Jiaul Sheikh, a resident of Sulitala village located adjacent to Jafrabad, was arrested on Saturday night by the special task force (STF) of the state police from the home of one of his relatives at Chopra in North Dinajpur district.

“Sheikh fled to north Bengal after Haragobindo Das and his son were murdered. It is suspected that he was among those who provoked a mob to attack the home of the Das family. He was identified from footages caught on security cameras installed around the scene of crime,” a police officer familiar with the probe said.

Kalu and Dildar Nadab, who are brothers and residents of the same area, were the first to be arrested in this case. Inzamamul Haque, the third suspect, was also arrested near Jafrabad.

“The situation in Jangipur is under control. There has been no untoward incident in a week,” SP Roy said on Sunday when more than 100 Hindu families returned to Murshidabad after spending days with relatives in adjoining districts.

“We are still scared. We will feel safe if the Border Security Force sets up camps near our homes,” Smriti Das, a homemaker who returned from Malda with her family, told the media.

The state government told the Calcutta high court on April 17 that some communal violence took place in South 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts as well during protests against the new law.

Murshidabad, however, remained in focus because of the deaths and scale of violence. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) targeted the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), alleging that the violence was engineered by it to drive Hindus out of Murshidabad where Muslims comprise 66 % of the population, Bengal’s highest.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the National Commission for Women (NCW) sent inquiry teams to the affected areas during the weekend.

“How can women of Murshidabad feel safe under the prevailing circumstances? It is the state’s duty to ensure the safety of citizens” Vijaya Rahatkar, the NCW chairperson, said on Sunday after returning to Kolkata.

Several state BJP leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the legislative assembly, have demanded that Hindus in the affected areas be trained to handle firearms and issued licence.

“This was done by the Centre in Jammu and Kashmir to create village protection groups. The situation in Murshidabad is no different,” Adhikari said.

Echoing chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for the violence, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: “BJP was behind the violence. Adhikari is making absurd demands to create trouble when peace is being restored.”

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a mass rally, CPI(M)’s frontal organisations held in Kolkata on Sunday, state Left Front chairman Biman Bose said: “TMC and RSS planned the communal violence. People need to understand the binary. RSS created TMC by dividing Congress in 1998.”