Violence erupted in the fourth phase of elections in Bengal in which five people were killed in two separate incidents. Four persons were killed when central forces opened fire on an unruly mob in Sitalkuchi assembly constituency in Mathabhanga block in Cooch Behar district on Saturday. In another incident in the same constituency a first-time voter was killed, taking the total number of deaths to five.
Sources in the Election Commission said that a preliminary report that reached the special police observer Vivek Dubey suggests that the central forces had to open fire in self-defence.
In the meanwhile, the CISF has issued a statement informing about what led to the violence at the Sitalkuchi assembly constituency in Mathabhanga block in Cooch Behar.
According to CISF, on Saturday, around 9:35 am, near booth No 126, a Quick Reaction Team (QRT) of CISF headed by Coy Commander Inspector E Sunil Kumar was attacked by a mob of around 50-60 miscreants when they were taking a round of area along with local police representative to clear public who was resisting voters from reaching polling booths.
Meanwhile, a scuffle took place where a child fell down and miscreants started damaging the vehicle of QRT and attacked the QRT personnel. QRT reacted in self-defence and fired six rounds in air to disperse the mob. Deepak Kumar, DC Adhoc Comdt of 567 CISF reached the spot and pacified the mob.
After an hour, another group of mob (approximately 150) joined in and reached booth No 186 and started manhandling the polling staff on duty at Booth.
At first, they started beating the Home Guard and an Asha worker who were present on the duty at the booth. CISF booth Comdr tried to pacify the miscreants but the mob entered the polling booth and further beaten up the other polling staff on duty.
Few miscreants tried to snatch the weapons of CISF personnel deployed there. As a result, CISF personnel fired two rounds in the air but the mob didn't pay any heed to the warning. In the meantime, QRT of CISF and police also reached at the spot. The mob further started advancing aggressively towards CISF personnel, therefore, sensing imminent danger to their life.
They fired 7 more rounds towards the advancing mob of miscreants. While the above incident was going on, more police party arrived at the booth.
It is reported that in self-defence they have also fired few rounds. As a result, few miscreants were injured and immediately the mob dispersed. The polling was halted. More police personnel reached the spot later. It was reported that 5 to 6 miscreants sustained fatal injuries and further they succumbed to injuries.
