Kolkata: It was just the second day of the New Year and Dulal Sarkar, 61, popularly known as Babla, had stepped out of his factory gate onto the main road in Malda’s Englishbazar at 10:30 am on a cold and foggy January morning when two motorbikes with pillion riders stopped close to him.
As the pillion riders, faces covered with mufflers, dismounted and came towards him, Sarkar sensed something amiss. Sensing trouble, Sarkar ran into a shop to hide from them, where he was shot from behind. Sarkar succumbed to his injuries at the Malda district hospital after being shot in the head and neck. Dulal was a six-time councillor of Ward 22 of the Englishbazar municipality in Malda and vice-president of the Trinamool Congress’ district unit.
Addressing an administrative meeting shortly after the incident, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee said Sarkar died because of negligence by the police.
“Dulal Sarkar was my fellow warrior since the inception of TMC. He died because of negligence by the police. He was attacked once earlier also but the police withdrew his security cover,” Banerjee, who is also in charge of the Home Department which oversees the Police, said at the meeting.
Banerjee also criticized the Malda Superintendent of Police (SP), attributing the murder to the SP’s negligence. “This happened due to the callousness of the SP,” Banerjee said during the televised meeting. She also pointed out that Sarkar’s security had been withdrawn prior to the attack, despite previous threats.
“My close associate and a very popular leader, Babla Sarkar, has been murdered today. From the beginning of the Trinamool Congress, he (and his wife Chaitali Sarkar) worked hard for the party, and Babla was also elected a councillor,” she said in a post on X.
“… I am so shocked and sad that I do not know how to convey my condolences to the bereaved family. May God give Chaitali strength to survive and fight the battle,” she added.
As TV channels ran the chilling footage of the murder caught in CCTV cameras, Sarkar’s widow, Chaitali, also a Trinamool councillor, accused leaders of her own party, for her husband’s murder.
Six days after the murder, West Bengal police arrested Narendra Nath Tiwari, a local leader of the ruling party itself, for allegedly playing a key role in plotting the murder. Tiwari, the president of the TMC committee for Malda Town, allegedly hired the murderers who shot Sarkar.
With the arrest of Tiwari, the number of persons in the custody of the police in connection with the murder went up to seven.
“The arrested men have revealed during interrogation that the conspirators had given Rs 50 lakh to the assailants to carry out the crime,” Supratim Sarkar, Additional Director General of Police (South Bengal), said. An old rivalry between Tiwari and Sarkar led to the murder, police sources said.
Reacting to Tiwari’s arrest, TMC leader and chairman of Englishbazar Municipality Krishnendu Narayan Choudhury said the accused leader had earlier threatened Sarkar with dire consequences.
“He (Tiwari) must have committed the crime which is why he has been arrested. Tiwari was trying to take control of the Englishbazar municipality, but Babla became the councillor of the area. During the municipality elections, there was a fight between the two leaders. We all had backed Sarkar then.”
He also alleged that “someone was probably helping Tiwari”. “I will tell the name only to our Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) and no one else. We had informed the police also. Tiwari had told many people that he would kill Sarkar, and that’s what happened,” Chowdhury claimed.
Former Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of trying to “suppress the matter”. “This did not happen all of a sudden. From day one, Dulal Sarkar’s wife has been alleging that big names are involved, and to suppress the matter, we are seeing Ministers and the Mayor rushing at the behest of the Chief Minister. What is Mamata Banerjee trying to suppress?” Chowdhury said.
Twelve days later, a Trinamool Congress worker was killed and two other party supporters sustained bullet injuries at Kaliachak in Malda district. The firing occurred at about 9 a.m. on January 14 in the Kaliaganj area under the Kaliachak police station limits when Trinamool Congress local committee president Bakul Sheikh and other party workers were attending a programme on the inauguration of a road.
Ataul Haque alias Hasu Sheikh, a TMC worker, succumbed to his injuries at the spot, while Bakul Sheikh and former panchayat chief Esaruddin Sheikh suffered critical injuries.
This firing was also in broad daylight where a group of miscreants indiscriminately opened fire at the local Trinamool Congress supporters.
Earlier, Swapan Manjhi, Jhantu Halder and Bhootnath Pramanik, all of them TMC grassroots leaders, were hacked to death in Canning in the South 24 Parganas district. It has come to light that the primary accused in the triple-murder case, Rafikul, is a worker of the Trinamool Congress.
While speaking about the matter, the accused’s mother Ayesha Sardar said, “Both my son and husband are TMC workers. But they were not associated with Swapan Majhi. They belonged to another faction.”
On Friday, a local Trinamool Congress worker was shot dead on Friday afternoon by unidentified assailants at Naihati in North 24 Parganas district, police said. He died on the spot after getting shot in the head, they said.
“Santosh Yadav was passing by the Gauripur area when the crime took place. He managed to snatch away the revolver from the first attacker after the initial incident of firing. However, he could not save himself as the other miscreants fired at him four times. One bullet hit him in the head,” a police officer said.
The body of 52-year-old Mahadeb Bishoi of Nandigram Block 1 Gokulnagar panchayat area, was found in front of his tea stall inside a market in Brindaban Chowk on Wednesday night. “It seems that the man was beaten to death. Both his legs were broken. There were injury marks on his hands. We have received a complaint from his family and a probe has been initiated,” a senior police officer said.
Though the Trinamool Congress accused the BJP of masterminding the murder, the local BJP leadership pointed fingers at the Trinamool Congress itself. Rubbishing TMC’s claims, the BJP said Bishoi’s death was the result of the party’s infighting and that the saffron party had no role in it. “There is no political rivalry behind this. Yesterday, there was a picnic where they had consumed alcohol, after which there was a fight following which Bishoi was murdered,” Meghnagh Paul, general secretary of BJP’s Tamluk unit, said.
Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, said these incidents are proof of the worsening law and order situation in the State, which he claimed had become a “killing field” under Banerjee’s rule.
In response, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that the State police was thoroughly investigating all murders and making arrests. He emphasised that there should be no politicisation of the matter, as police were doing their job.
Sujapur Trinamool Congress MLA Md Abdul Gani said that the rise in violence is because of factional fights within the Trinamool Congress itself. “Someone is earning ₹10 crore, someone is not earning even ₹10,” the MLA said.
Subhomoy Majumdar, a political observer, said: “Over the past year, West Bengal has witnessed a disturbing spike in violent incidents involving the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party. Factionalism, turf wars, and disputes over political influence and financial gains have resulted in the deaths of several TMC leaders and workers. These grim developments have raised questions about the State’s governance, law enforcement capabilities, and the stability of one of India’s most politically violent regions.”
“The whole infighting is related to money and land deals. All these leaders have earned crores through land deals. The fight is regarding this and nothing else. It is well-known that in order to retain their positions, Trinamool leaders have to pay either Mamata or Abhishek. So, this fight is for more money and more power,” alleged State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar.
Biswanath Chakraborty, political observer, told The Sunday Guardian: “The internal strife within the Trinamool Congress has undermined Bengal’s law and order situation. The spate of murders over the past year underscores the urgent need for introspection and reform within the TMC starting from the very top. Restoring peace and political stability will require strong leadership, effective policing, and a commitment to democratic values. For now, the State remains on edge, with its political future hanging in the balance.”