Tussle on between police, BJP over slain worker's body
A two-day long tussle between the West Bengal Police and the BJP over the body of a slain party worker from Birbhum district lay unresolved on Tuesday as the saffron outfit blocked roads and staged sit-in demonstrations demanding the corpse be handed over to the family.
Swarup Gorai, an active BJP worker, was shot at by assailants on September 6 in Ramkrishnapur village under Nanoor police station of Birbhum, with the saffron party blaming the ruling Trinamool Congress for the attack. A grievously injured Gorai died two days later at a city hospital.
The BJP workers resorted to road blockades in Birbhum after the administration did not hand over the body lying in the Bolpur super-specialty hospital to Gorai's family.
The BJP alleged that when the family members wanted to take possession of Gorai's body, they were asked to get the permission from the sub-divisional police officer, Bolpur.
BJP MP from Bishnupur Soumitra Khan reached the spot and joined a sit-in demonstration alongside the victim's family members on Bolpu-Nanooor Crossing.
The district police contended that as per law, the family needed to take written permission from the Nanoon police station, which was in possession of the body.
On Monday, Gorai's family members demanded they be allowed to take the corpse to the state BJP headquarters from the morgue of the NRS Medical College and Hospital, but the police refused.
Peeved over the police turning down their demand, the family members left without taking the body. The police, however, took the body to the Bolpur super-specialty hospital on Monday night itself.
The victim's family accused the police of "stealing the body" to dispose it off. "They stole the body from the morgue without informing me. They didn't take our signature also," said a woman family member of the slain worker.
The victim's family filed a complaint at the Entally police station against the police, and also informed the hospital of the matter. State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh said his party only wanted to fulfil Gorai's last wish that his body be taken to the state party headquarters in central Kolkata's Muralidhar Sen Lane.
"Every week, some or the other BJP workers are killed. But police are least bothered. They are only striving heard to stop the BJP's march. "The BJP worker suffered unbearable pain for three days after he was shot at. It was his last wish that his body be garlanded before the statue of Syamaprasad Mookerjee in our party office. We wanted to only fulfil his last wish. But even that permission was declined."
The Trinamool, however, accused the BJP of staging a drama. "A thief considers all others as thieves. Since they misuse for political reasons all the central agencies like Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation, so they are accusing us of misusing the police.
"Trinamool does not need to use the police. The BJP should stop staging such drama," said state Minister and senior Trinamool leader Firhad Hakim.
