Bengal BJYM leader shot dead at home, BJP calls general strike

A 37-year-old Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader was shot dead at his home in West Bengal's Uttar Dinajpur district and the police arrested one person in this connection, an official said on Monday.

Mithun Ghosh, district vice-president of the BJP's youth wing, was fired upon at around 9.30 pm on Sunday in Itahar area. When he was taken to Raiganj Medical College and Hospital, doctors declared him brought dead, Superintendent of Police Mohammed Sana Akhtar told PTI.

The BJP called an eight-hour general strike in Uttar Dinajpur district on Tuesday to protest against the killing.

Ghosh had gone out with two persons and brought home a couple of firearms. The bullet which killed him was fired from one of those weapons, the SP said.

"It is still not clear how the incident occurred. It was also not known yet why he had brought the two firearms. We are investigating the matter," Akhtar said.

The police registered an FIR after Ghosh's cousin lodged a complaint alleging that two persons with whom the BJYM leader had gone out on Sunday were involved in the murder.

The SP said one of the two accused was arrested while a search is on for the other.

District Additional SP Arsh Verma said no political connection with the murder has been found yet.

Saffron party leaders, however, claimed that goons sheltered by the ruling Trinamool Congress gunned down Ghosh, a charge denied by the TMC.

"Uttar Dinajpur dist. @BJYMVP Mithun Ghosh has been shot dead by assailants at Itahar. This is TMC's handiwork written all over it. The bloodthirsty antisocial hound dogs who executed their master's orders would be taken to task when the tide turns. We won't forget Mithun Ghosh," Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari tweeted.

BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar announced an eight-hour general strike in the district from 6 am on Tuesday.

The BJP's Uttar Dinajpur district president Basudeb Sarkar said, "It is a planned murder. We will launch an agitation across the district if the culprits are not arrested within 24 hours."

Shantu Ghosh, the father of the deceased, claimed that a group of men led by a local TMC leader fired at his son while he was entering home on Sunday night.

The allegations are baseless and politically motivated, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.

"The TMC is not at all involved in the incident. The police investigation is on. The truth will come out," he said.

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