NANDIGRAM: A BJP worker’s mother looking for her son after being woken up by the noise of fighting was fatally struck on the head by a suspected Trinamool supporter late Wednesday in Nandigram, plunging this volatile East Midnapore pocket back into the cauldron of political violence two days before it votes in the penultimate phase of the LS polls.
Seven other BJP supporters, including the slain 58-year-old woman’s son, were wounded in the clash involving bike-borne assailants.
BJP supporters retaliated to Rathibala Ari’s death Thursday morning, barging into Trinamool supporters’ homes, attacking some, setting shops ablaze and blocking roads with logs. Police, RAF personnel and central forces were deployed to contain the violence. A lone suspect was detained for the killing the previous night.
Rathibala’s injured son, Sanjay, was shifted to a Kolkata hospital while the rest were being treated in Nandigram, officials said.
The prelude to Wednesday night’s clash was purportedly the formation of a night-vigil squad of BJP workers in Sonachura’s Manasapukur Bazar. A little before midnight, suspected TMC supporters arrived at the marketplace on bikes and got into a fight with the BJP workers.
Attacked with sticks and rods, Rathibala’s son was among those who were lying bloodied on the ground by the time she rushed out of her home, barely 100 metres away. One of the bike-borne assailants struck her on the head with his weapon, witnesses said. She died while being taken to hospital.
Nandigram was the epicentre of an anti-land acquisition movement in 2007.
Seven other BJP supporters, including the slain 58-year-old woman’s son, were wounded in the clash involving bike-borne assailants.
BJP supporters retaliated to Rathibala Ari’s death Thursday morning, barging into Trinamool supporters’ homes, attacking some, setting shops ablaze and blocking roads with logs. Police, RAF personnel and central forces were deployed to contain the violence. A lone suspect was detained for the killing the previous night.
Rathibala’s injured son, Sanjay, was shifted to a Kolkata hospital while the rest were being treated in Nandigram, officials said.
The prelude to Wednesday night’s clash was purportedly the formation of a night-vigil squad of BJP workers in Sonachura’s Manasapukur Bazar. A little before midnight, suspected TMC supporters arrived at the marketplace on bikes and got into a fight with the BJP workers.
Attacked with sticks and rods, Rathibala’s son was among those who were lying bloodied on the ground by the time she rushed out of her home, barely 100 metres away. One of the bike-borne assailants struck her on the head with his weapon, witnesses said. She died while being taken to hospital.
Nandigram was the epicentre of an anti-land acquisition movement in 2007.
