Mangalkot, July 26 : Scores of women today broke down in tears at three villages in Mangalkot in front of a Left Front delegation seeking action against the assailants of CPM leader Falguni Mukherjee, who was shot dead in Kherua village on June 15.
“We want immediate arrest of the culprits who murdered our Falgunida. He was such a good man,” said Jharna Pradhan, 47, a housewife of a family of CPM supporters in Kherua village.
The villagers also accused the police of dragging its feet while investigating the murder case.
“The police are yet to arrest all the accused persons of the murder case. So far they have been able to arrest only four. We feel the police are not taking any initiative to solve the murder,” said Mamata Ghosh, 48, another housewife in Dhanyarukhi, with tears rolling down their cheeks.
The women also openly admitted to the delegation that villagers had hurled stones at the team of Congress MLAs last week when they saw four FIR named accused with them.
“We knew the (Congress) MLAs would arrive from Calcutta. But we found them entering our village with four persons accused in Falgunida’s murder case. We shouted at the police pointing them but they refused to listen to us. After that we could not keep our cool and started hurling stones,” said Jharna Majhi of Dhanyarukhi.
Two CPM MPs, Ramchandra Dom and Saidul Haque and five CPM and one Forward Bloc MLA from Burdwan district, visited Dhanyarukhi, Kherua and Lakshmipur villages to speak to party supporters about how to restore peace in the area.
Frequent clashes between CPM and Opposition supporters had been reported from the district ever since the murder.
When nine Congress MLAs visited Dhanyarukhi village on July 15, CPM supporters hurled brickbats at them and chased them across a paddy field. Local Congress MLA, Rabindranath Chatterjee, was hit by a brick at the back of his head and he needed eight stitches.
As soon as the Left delegation reached Kherua village around 11am, about 50 women surrounded them and spoke about Falguni whom they described as our “amader gharer chheley” (the boy next door).
The CPM leaders assured them that all the accused persons will be arrested and the CPM will ensure it.
Saidul Haque, MP from Burdwan—Durgapur, said: “We promise that we will take all necessary steps to ensure that Falguni Mukherjee’s murderers are punished. We think the police should have played a more pro-active role.”
Chief of Burdwan zila parishad, Uday Sarkar, who accompanied the delegation, said it was unfortunate that the police so far arrested only four accused. “The police need to play a more active role and arrest all the accused people,” he added.
Falguni, a resident of Dhanyarukhi and a district coimmittee member of the CPM was very popular in the area. “He always helped us when we were in trouble. In 2006 floods in Mangalkot, Falgunida himself worked as labourer to repair the embankment of Ajoy river,” said Sudarshan Mondal of Lakshmipur.