KOLKATA: Sabitri Mitra, the Trinamool Congress legislator from Manikchak in West Bengal’s Malda district, has alleged that an attempt was made on her life on Saturday night when she was travelling on a highway.
“I was travelling from my constituency to my home in Malda town. A car was following us from a close distance. It rammed into my car twice. I asked my driver to change route and head for Manikchak police station. I asked the police to check security camera footage,” Mitra told the local media on Sunday.
“There were at least four people in that car. The vehicle was covered by dust and had several dents. I suspect that these men would have shot me if we stopped our vehicle. There is a conspiracy to kill me, but I cannot figure out who is behind it. I have no enemy,” said Mitra.
The veteran leader, who was with the Congress more than a decade ago, has been representing the Manikchak seat since 2011, when the TMC came to power, overthrowing the Left Front government.
Mitra’s allegation triggered a row since Dulal Sarkar, the vice-president of the TMC’s Malda district unit was shot dead by motorcycle-borne assailants on January 2. Police arrested TMC leader Narendranath Tiwari, president of TMC’s Englishbazar town unit, and Swapan Sharma, a criminal, on charges of planning Sarkar’s murder. Police said ₹50 lakh was paid by the conspirators to the contract killers, of whom five were arrested.
In a second attack, Bakul Sheikh, president of a local TMC unit in Kaliachak, and Esaruddin Sheikh, his brother, were injured and one of their followers was killed on January 14. Zakir Sheikh, a local TMC worker, and his followers were arrested for carrying out the attack.
Police said Mitra’s complaint was registered and a probe was on.
“Police teams are looking for the vehicle in quesiton as per Mitra’s description. Security camera footage are being examined,” a police officer said, requesting anonymity.
Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury, the TMC chairman of Malda’s Englishbazar municipality, said, “Police will surely find the people who tried to attack Mitra.”
Chowdhury, too, was with the Congress before switching camps.
Khagen Murmu, the Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha member from the Malda North seat, alleged that back-to-back attacks on TMC leaders in Malda are a fallout of infighting in the ruling party.
“The incidents expose the infighting in TMC in Malda and the state of law and order,” Murmu said.