Mamata government to observe death anniversary of Syama Prasad Mookerjee
Kolkata, June 22: For the first time, West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee government has decided to observe the death anniversary of Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee on Saturday, triggering a political storm in the state.
While the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) saw this as yet another instance of the "collusion" between the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the latter said the Mamata Banerjee government was seeing the ghost of BJP everywhere.
The BJS is regarded as the precursor of the BJP.
West Bengal ministers Firhad Hakim and Sovandeb Chattopadhyay would attend the programme before Mookerjee's bust at south Kolkata's Keoratala crematorium, according to the formal invite issued by the Information and Cultural Affairs Department.
"It is our tradition to pay respect to great personalities. We believe in that culture," said Trinamool leader and Kolkata Municipal Corporation chairperson Mala Roy.
The bust was vandalised by a group of Left radicals in March in protest against the pulling down of two statues of Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in Tripura, allegedly by the BJP-RSS activists.
The Banerjee government arrested the Left radicals and installed a new bronze bust of the late leader.
"The bronze bust will be unveiled on Saturday. We will pay our respects then," said Roy.
Chattopadhyay said Mookerjee would never have approved the BJP's communal agenda for the sake of getting political mileage.
"The way BJP is bringing religion into the political arena, and indulging in the politics of polarisation to create an atmosphere of hatred, and gain political mileage, I don't think Syama Prasad would have approved all this," he said.
BJP leader Pratap Banerjee was sarcastic.
"Mamata Banerjee is seeing the ghost of BJP everywhere. This is the reason they have suddenly turned big admirers of Syama Prasad," he said.
CPI-M leader Chayan Bhattacharya slammed the Trinamool.
"We never had any doubt about some understanding between the BJP and the Trinamool. The state government indirectly fans communalism. This has come into the open now."
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Jharkhand horror: Man kills live-in partner, chops body into 40 pieces
Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.
The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.
Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.
The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.
Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.
"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.
The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.
Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.
