Panchayat polls: One killed and two injured in gun-battle at Bengal's Chopra

Kolkata, June 15 One person was killed and two others were severely injured in a fierce gun-battle between two groups at Chopra in North Dinajpur district of West Bengal on Thursday afternoon.

The injured have been admitted to a local hospital. The identity of the person killed is yet to be known.

It has been learnt that while some Congress and CPI(M) candidates were jointly approaching the local block development office to submit their nominations for the forthcoming panchayat polls in West Bengal, they were attacked by a group of miscreants. As the CPI(M) and Congress candidates resisted, the miscreants took out guns and started indiscriminate firing.

In that firing, one person was killed on spot and two others were critically injured.

The CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that the attacks on their candidates were purposely launched by goons associated with ruling Trinamool Congress.

"The entire state is over a volcano. The police are shamelessly backing the Trinamool Congress goons. The ruling party goons have taken total control of the block development office at Chopra. The opposition alliance candidates are being resisted from reaching the block development office to file their nominations," he added.

The state Congress president and Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that Trinamool Congress has turned out to be a party of murderers. "The police are actively backing Trinamool Congress in launching this violence during the nomination phase," Chowdhury added.

Trinamool Congress' legislator from Chopra Hamidul Rahman, however, denied the allegations and claimed that infighting in CPI(M) had resulted in this firing. "None in our party have connection with the event," he added.

This is the second death over nominations in West Bengal since the polling dates were announced on June 8. On June 9, a Congress worker Phoolchand Sheikh was killed at Khargram in Murshidabad district.

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