Illegal mining, extortion charges loom over Birbhum violence

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Bhadu Sheikh – whose murder on Monday evening was followed by the massacre of eight people in West Bengal’s Birbhum district – was allegedly involved in extortion from transporters of sand and stone chips in the region, illegal sand mining and stone quarrying in the region, and upset some associates by refusing to share the money they had collected for him, local party leaders have said.

Newton Sheikh, a member of Barshal panchayat, alleged in a video message on Thursday that Bhadu was involved in extorting money from sand and stone transporters. Several complaints were also made against Bhadu before TMC district unit president Anubrata Mondal, he alleged.

“It is an open secret in Birbhum that money is collected every day from trucks that carry sand from local riverbeds to other states or districts. Trucks that carry stones from local quarries and crushing units have to pay too. Bhadu’s men used to operate in Rampurhat region. He recently told his associates that he will keep all the cash collected from a certain zone,” a TMC leader in Birbhum said on condition of anonymity.

Asked for an estimate of the annual income incurred out of such rackets, the TMC leader said: “If the trucks are loaded according to government regulation, the drivers pay ₹1,000. If the vehicles are overloaded, then the amount can go up to ₹2,000. There are certain roads and highways through which 500 to 700 trucks pass on most days of the week. One can easily work out the figures.”

While travelling through Birbhum, HT found hundreds of trucks either blocking roads and state highways or delaying movement of other vehicles.

Bhadu Sheikh was the deputy chief of Barshal village panchayat under which Bogtui falls. He was killed in public on Monday evening. Hours later, at least eight houses were torched, leading to the deaths of eight people, many of whom were women and children. The crime has sparked an outcry and prompted the state government to press for the arrest of 23 people and the suspension of two officers.

Anarul Hossain, the TMC’s community block unit president at Rampurhat, dismissed the allegations. “Newton Sheikh is making false allegations because he had differences with Bhadu Sheikh. He never lodged any complaint with the party.”

Hossain was arrested on Thursday afternoon in connection with the massacre. Police officials said the order to arrest him came after chief minister Mamata Banerjee visited the village.

Palash Sheikh, one of the men who worked for Bhadu despite having an old family enmity, is alleged to be the prime accused in his murder, said villagers. He is yet to be arrested.

Bhadu was receiving threats for quite some time, his family said. His nephew Sujan Sheikh, who witnessed the murder, said: “Palash Sheikh called me up on March 20 and said he would kill my uncle.”

“The victims belonged to families that had old enmity with Bhadu Sheikh’s family,” Kalu Sheikh, a villager, said. In January last year, Bhadu’s elder brother Babar was gunned down by some of his rivals and Palash was named in the police complaint lodged by the family.

Not willing to be identified, a TMC leader said: “A section of policemen and local politicians get a share of the extortion money. The government allots the sand excavation contracts through virtual tender. There are more than 20 legal sand collection points in Birbhum district. But sand is illegally collected as well from the beds of rivers such as Ajay and Mayurakshi.”

The administration is aware of these operations but the network of the mafia is so wide that normal police raids are not enough to stop it, a district police officer said, asking not to be named. “Chief minister Mamata Banerjee recently said at an administrative meeting that we must crack down on these operations,” the officer added.

Located within 150 metres of the bustling Rampurhat town, Bogtui witnessed a massacre on Monday night when eight people were burnt alive inside their homes in retaliation to Bhadu Sheikh’s murder earlier that evening. Most of the victims were women and at least two were small children, according to local people.