Kolkata: The death of a hotelier after he was threatened, allegedly by a Trinamool Congress activist, sparked outrage yesterday with Bengal’s opposition parties accusing the ruling party of “shielding the guilty” and urging Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to rein in criminals.
Police have registered a case of unnatural death.
On the other hand, a Trinamool municipal councilor attributed the death to “tension” triggered by family issues.
Sumit Naha, who owned a lodge in Howrah, died following a heart attack at his residence at Baguiati in Kolkata’s north eastern outskirts early on Monday with his family alleging that he could not bear the incessant threats and intimidation by local Trinamool activists. Naha’s mother Manju claimed that her son was being threatened to withdraw a police complaint he had filed after his manager Ashish Manna was assaulted and threatened in the lodge by a gangster having links with the Trinamool.
The family, in a police complaint, has submitted CCTV footage which shows a gangster, claimed to be a Trinamool activist, assaulting the manager.
“This incident is a glaring example of the widespread extortion by Trinamool goons. Enjoying patronage of the ruling party, antisocial and criminals are wreaking havoc. On the other hand, the administration and the police have been rendered useless,” state Bharatiya Janata Party president Rahul Sinha told media persons here.
Claiming that lawlessness in Bengal was rapidly increasing, Sinha blamed the administration and held Banerjee — who heads the Home Department — responsible. Meanwhile, a Trinamool councilor in Howrah Municipality, Debesh Saha, rubbishing the involvement of his partymen, attributed Naha’s death to tension related to his daughter’s marriage three years ago. IANS
