BJP leader hacked to death, party blames Trinamool
Kolkata, July 28 : A BJP leader was hacked to death in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, with police putting the blame on "unidentified criminals", but the party accused the state's ruling Trinamool Congress of being responsible for the killing.
The Trinamool has, however, denied the charge.
Shaktipada Sardar, the secretary of BJP's Mandal committee in the Mandir Bazar-Dhanurhat area, was allegedly attacked by a group of men with sharp weapons on Friday night, and died on the way to a Kolkata hospital.
The grievously injured Sardar was earlier taken to Diamond Harbour hospital, but as his condition worsened, the doctors advised he be shifted to a Kolkata hospital, police said.
An investigation into the death was on, the officer said.
As news of Sardar's death spread, angry BJP activists put up a road blockade demanding immediate arrest of the culprits.
A BJP leader alleged that miscreants loyal to the Trinamool murdered Sardar as he was popular in the area, and had almost finalised the entry of four local leaders of the ruling party to the saffron outfit.
Senior police and administrative officials rushed to the area and succeeded in getting the blockade withdrawn after assurances that those responsible for the killing would be brought to book.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll climbs to 13; body of last missing person recovered
Jabalpur (PTI): The bodies of a five-year-old boy and his uncle were recovered from Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district on Sunday morning, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy to 13, police said.
The boat, around 20 years old and operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening.
"The bodies of Mayuram (5) and his uncle Kamraj (around 50), an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, were found floating and were fished out of the dam," Bargi Sub Divisional Officer of Police Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI over the phone.
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All 13 missing persons identified have now been accounted for, he said, adding the bodies were sent to a government hospital for postmortem.
Teams comprising around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, along with personnel from the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, were involved in the search operation, the police said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the vessel, 28 were rescued after the incident, according to the police.
The CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat, though the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far, they said.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members. It also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
