Kalachand Karmakar, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) booth secretary from Sikarpur in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal died on Wednesday after being beaten up by members of a local club. A person identified as Kamal Barman has been arrested.
The BJP and Karmakar's family members have claimed that he was killed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) cadres. However, the police have said that it was a case of a dispute between two local clubs and not a political murder.
55-year-old Karmakar saw his relative being beaten up by members of the local club and rushed in to intervene trying to rescue his relative. The moment he intervened, those members started beating him up and he fell unconscious. When he was taken to the Tufanganj hospital, the doctors declared him brought dead.
The family has claimed that the persons who beat up Karmakar were members of a club who are affiliated to the TMC party.
Cooch Behar SP K Kanan said, "This area early had one local club. The club split two years back and since the last years, the two clubs are organizing Kali puja separately. This year too, the club celebrated the Kali puja separately and the immersion also took place peacefully."
Kanan added, "Everything was fine till today morning when members of both clubs clashed. This is not a political murder but a dispute between two clubs."
