SC to hear in July plea on killing of BJP workers in Bengal

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would hear in July a plea concerning the alleged killing of three BJP workers in West Bengal after the 2018 local bodies elections in the state.

“What remains in this matter now?” a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi asked senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia, who had filed the plea in 2018 and was also appearing for the brother of one of the deceased. Bhatia referred to the change in circumstances in the state. “Substantial change or sea change,” the bench observed.

Suvendu Adhikari on May 9 took oath as West Bengal’s first BJP chief minister.

The BJP secured 207 seats in the 294-member assembly, ending the TMC’s 15-year rule in West Bengal in the recently concluded assembly elections.

During the hearing, Bhatia urged the bench to post the plea for hearing in July to enable him to seek further instructions. “You should take a proactive step in ensuring that things move in the right direction,” the bench observed and posted the plea for hearing in July.

While hearing the matter on February 17, the top court asked the petitioner why he had not approached the Calcutta High Court with his grievance. Bhatia had said three ghastly murders that took place in West Bengal were brought to the notice of the apex court.

He had argued that 19 murders, which were political in nature, took place in the state at that time and the brother and family members of one of the deceased were receiving death threats from some influential persons.

Bhatia had said five closure reports were filed in these 19 matters. He had said the deceased’s brother has also filed an application in the apex court.

In August 2018, the top court agreed to examine the plea seeking a CBI probe into the alleged killing of three BJP workers in West Bengal after the local bodies elections in the state.

It was also alleged that family members of three slain BJP workers, Shaktipad Sarkar, Trilochan Mahato and Dulal Kumar, were being threatened.

Shaktipada Sarkar, a BJP block president in the Mandirbazar-Dhanurhat area, was hacked to death when he was returning home in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district in July 2018.

The body of 32-year-old Dulal Kumar, a BJP worker, was found hanging from an electric pole in the Purulia district’s Balarampur of West Bengal in June 2018.

In the same district in May 2018, the body of 18-year-old Tirlochan Mahato, also a BJP worker from Balrampur, was found hanging from a tree.