In what can be called as one of the most horrendous incidents to have taken place in recent past, eight people in Birbhum district of West Bengal were burnt alive in what is being called as political murder in the state. Today we bring before you the real reason behind these killings.
It has been found that Tolabazi or organised extortion is the real reason behind the killings of these people of Birbhum. Tolabazi in West Bengal refers to the extortion that TMC workers do from the state's businessmen and common citizens. This whole incident is related to Rampurhat of Birbhum district.
Birbhum district is bordered by Jharkhand state and sand mining and rock excavation work is done on a large scale here. That is, this area is rich in natural resources and this brings in a lot of money in this area. And the roots of this massacre are also found in these reasons.
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The incident began with the murder of a Trinamool Congress leader called Bhadu Sheikh. After his murder in Bogtui village of Rampurhat where Bhadu Sheikh belonged, TMC activists allegedly burnt alive six women and two children.
When Zee News team spoke to the people of the village, it came to light that the TMC leader killed, and the people whose houses were burnt after his murder, all ran a network of tolabazi in the village. And all of them were linked to the ruling TMC. These people used to extort illegally from the trucks that use to pass with sand and stones, within a radius of five to 10 kilometers of this village.
Because Bhadu Sheikh was also the deputy head of the village panchayat, he along with his supporters were maintaining check points at different places in the village. And whenever a vehicle used to leave with sand and other goods from there, they had to pay a fixed amount to these people of TMC.
TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh got into a fight with some of his associates, resulting in some people of TMC getting separated from him. The broken faction now started illegal recovery from the trucks crossing the village. Among these people was also a TMC worker named Sanju Sheikh, whose house was set on fire.
According to the police, out of the 8 people who were killed, seven were from the family of Sanju Sheikh. Questions are also being raised on the role of the police in this case, as the police station is only two kilometers away from the houses where women and children were burnt alive.
Still the police did not reach there for several hours after the crime took place. Apart from this, the people of the area say that during the arson, the voices of women screaming were coming from the house. But the accused had locked these houses from outside, so no one could save their lives.
