Job for poll official's wife, compensation for 14 victims' kin

The West Bengal government would offer a job to the wife of a deceased panchayat poll official and pay a compensation sum of Rs 5 lakh to his family, a senior official said here today.

The state would also give Rs 2 lakh each to the families of the 14 people, who lost their lives in the course of panchayat elections, he said.

"The government has decided to compensate the family of presiding officer Rajkumar Roy with Rs 5 lakh and his wife with a job at a state-run office. Each of the family members of the 14 people, who died in poll violence, will get Rs 2 lakh," the officer said.

Roy (42), who was a government school teacher at Rahatpur High Madrasa, had been deployed as presiding officer at an election booth in Itahar area of Raiganj subdivision, North Dinajpur district.

He went missing during election duty and his body was found a day later on the railway tracks near Sonadangi area of the district.

Roy's wife had lodged a complaint with the police alleging that her husband was "kidnapped from the polling booth" at Sonapur Basic School.

The panchayat elections were held in the state on May 14 and its results were declared three days later.