Trinamool panchayat member & 2 others murdered in Canning

A panchayat member of Trinamool Congress and two others from the same party, who were reportedly travelling to join a party meeting, were brutally murdered in Gopalpur of Canning in South 24 Parganas district on Thursday morning. They were first shot and then sharp weapons were used on them by the assailants.

Swapan Majhi is Gopalpur gram panchayat member from the Trinamool Congress. Two booth workers of the party – Bhutnath Pramanik and Jhantu Halder – were accompanying him to the same meeting. The three Trinamool Congress partymen were going to a party meeting to plan for the upcoming public meeting on July 21. The meeting was scheduled at Trinamool’s party office in Gopalpur under the Canning West Assembly constituency.

According to some reports, they were stopped midway and shot from close range. Apparently, bombs were also hurled at them. When local people came out, the assailants fled.

The bodies have been sent for post mortem and investigation started by the police. Canning West MLA Paresh Ram Das alleged that BJP was behind the murders. But state BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar said that this was an infighting of the ruling party with factions fighting amongst themselves over upcoming panchayat polls.