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SC seeks medical reports regarding death of BJP worker in WB

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Press Trust of India New Delhi
Last Updated : Mar 26 2019 | 8:45 PM IST

The Supreme Court Tuesday asked the West Bengal government to furnish the report of medical board constituted by it to ascertain the cause of the death of a BJP worker Dulal Kumar last year.

The body of 32-year-old Kumar was found hanging from an electric pole in Purulia district's Balarampur of West Bengal on June 2 last year after the Panchayat election in the state.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna said that the state government should file the report within two weeks.

The bench was hearing a plea filed by advocate Gaurav Bhatia, seeking CBI probe into the death of three workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who were allegedly killed in West Bengal last year.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the West Bengal government, said that in the case of Shaktipada Sarkar police has arrested three persons while seven others have been chargesheeted.

He said it is not that the West Bengal government is not doing anything as police has arrested several accused in the case.

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"In the case of Dulal Kumar, police has filed the charge sheet and six people were named as accused," he said, adding that several Trinmool Congress workers were booked in the case.

Bhatia contended that government has done nothing and even closure report was filed in one of the case.

He said there was considerable delay in filing of the case into the death of Kumar and a report of medical board was not given to them.

Sibal said the entire petition was filed by Bhatia based on the newspaper reports.

The bench said it does not wish to go into the matter of Sarkar and 18-year-old Trilochan Mahato, also a BJP worker from Balarampur.

"We would like to see the report of the medical board constituted in the case of Kumar on the next date of hearing," the bench said.

On February 19, the apex court while hearing the plea, had observed that "much is happening in West Bengal".

Bhatia has said that three BJP workers were killed in the state last year after the Panchayat elections and the police had filed a closure report in one of the cases, stating that it was a suicide.

Referring to the "brutal killings" -- the body of one of the BJP workers was found hanging from a high-tension electric pole -- the petition said it was an example of the violence meted out by the ruling TMC in West Bengal to its political rivals.

Bhatia alleged that the state police was pressured by the state government, adding that in one of the cases, there was an inordinate delay in lodging the FIR, which was registered 18 days after the incident.

The petition alleged that family members of the victims were being threatened and FIRs were also lodged in this regard.

It demanded a CBI probe into the killings and alleged that the family members of the three slain BJP workers -- Sarkar, Mahato and Kumar -- were being threatened.

Bhatia also demanded a Rs 50-lakh compensation and security cover for the family members of the victims.

Earlier, the apex court had refused to grant an urgent hearing on the plea seeking a CBI probe into the killings of BJP workers in Purulia and South 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal after last year's Panchayat polls.

Sarkar, a BJP block president in the Mandirbazar-Dhanurhat area, was hacked to death when he was returning home in South 24 Parganas district on July 28 last year.

On May 30 last year, the body Mahato was found hanging from a tree with a poster written in Bengali struck on his back, saying he was killed for canvassing for the saffron party during the rural polls.

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First Published: Mar 26 2019 | 8:45 PM IST

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