BALRAMPUR: A young BJP worker's body was found hanging from a tree near his home in West Bengal's Purulia district on Wednesday morning.
According to reports, the body of 20-year-old Trilochan Mahato was found hanging by his own trousers in what is now being alleged as a ''political murder'' by the BJP.
An unsigned handwritten note in Bengali was found near the body of Trilochan Mahato near his home in Balarampur, about 295-km from Kolkata.
The message stated that he was "punished for working for the BJP" during the recent rural polls in the state.
A chilling message was also found scrawled on the back and front of his white T-shirt.
Roughly translated, the messages said, "This is for doing BJP politics from age 18. Been trying to kill you since the vote. Failed. Today you are dead."
The local police also found a broken pen, a broken refill, a mobile, wallet, slippers and Trilochan's new bicycle near the body.
The incident evoked strong criticism of the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government from BJP chief Amit Shah who said the ruling dispensation has "surpassed the violent legacy of the communist rule" in West Bengal.
The present TMC govt in West Bengal has surpassed the violent legacy of Communist rule. Entire BJP mourns this tragic loss & stands firmly with Trilochan Mahato’s family in this hour of grief. His sacrifice for organisation & ideology will not go in vain. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 30, 2018
In a series of tweets, Shah said that he was "deeply hurt by the brutal killing of our young karyakarta."
Deeply hurt by the brutal killing of our young karyakarta, Trilochan Mahato in Balarampur,West Bengal. A young life full of possibilities was brutally taken out under state’s patronage. He was hanged on a tree just because his ideology differed from that of state sponsored goons. pic.twitter.com/nHAEK09n7R
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 30, 2018
In the post that also included an image of Trilochan's body, Shah tweeted, "A young life full of possibilities was brutally taken out under state's patronage. He was hanged on a tree just because his ideology differed from that of state-sponsored goons."
''Entire BJP mourns this tragic loss & stands firmly with Trilochan Mahato's family in this hour of grief. His sacrifice for organisation & ideology will not go in vain," Shah said.
The youth had gone to a place barely three km from his village last evening and did not return home. He had called up his brother in the night and said that he was kidnapped and urged to be rescued, according to the police.
"We were informed by his family (about it) but despite searches throughout the night we could not spot him," the officer said.
The body was found in Balarampur village in the morning and the police were informed about it by the locals. No arrests have been made in connection with the incident as yet.
The West Bengal unit of BJP also strongly condemned the incident terming it as "an attack on democracy".
BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya claimed that 18 party workers have been killed in the state and alleged that it was at the behest of the state government.
The party's national secretary Rahul Sinha told reporters in Kolkata that the youth was associated with the party and asked, "Is it a democracy where a young man is being killed just because he was associated with the BJP?"
Training his gun at the ruling TMC, he said BJP cadre are being attacked and killed as the saffron party fared well in Purulia in the recent panchayat election in the state.
"The TMC wants to eliminate all signs of opposition from the areas where BJP has won (in the rural poll)", Sinha said.
Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress termed the allegations as ''baseless and concocted''.
"The allegations against TMC are completely baseless," a senior district TMC leader said.
In Purulia, the TMC and the BJP had a close fight in the gram panchayat polls winning 839 and 645 seats respectively. Out of the 38 Zilla Parishad seats, TMC had won 26 seats and BJP nine seats.
(With PTI inputs)
