CPI-M leader and former Lok Sabha member Sujan Chakraborty was Thursday booked in the murder of a ruling Trinamool Congress candidate for the upcoming panchayat polls in West Bengal, police said. Chakraborty claimed innocence.
Shibram Naskar, a Trinamool candidate for the Baruipur panchayat samiti in South 24 Parganas district, was killed Wednesday when he was returning home after campaigning, police said.
While one person has been arrested, cases have been started against five others, including Chakraborty, following a complaint filed by the victim's kin.
Police superintendent Pravin Tripathi told IANS: "They alleged that Chakraborty had conspired. So we have started a case against him."
Naskar, who had several injuries on his head and neck, died while being taken to a city hospital, police said.
Chakraborty, who was Lok Sabha member 2004-09, is a member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state secretariat and secretary of the party's South 24 Parganas district committee.
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Kolkata Mayor and Trinamool's district observer Sovan Chatterjee accused Chakraborty of being involved in the murder.
"Naskar was killed when he was returning after campaigning. There is a deep conspiracy behind this. The possibility of Sujan Chakraborty's involvement cannot be ruled out," said Chatterjee.
Chakraborty, on his part, termed the case against him as part of the 'bigger conspiracy' hatched by the Trinamool Congress government to frame CPI-M leaders in false cases.
"They have targeted our leaders Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Gautam Deb, Surjya Kanta Mishra. Now it seems my name is also there," he said.
"They first tried to implicate me in the Saradha chit fund case, but failed. Now they want to frame me in the murder case," he said.
Describing the murder as the result of the Trinamool's factional feud, Chakraborty said: "Let them arrest me. There is a law of the land."