Arjun Singh, Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha member from Barrackpore in the North 24 Parganas district, alleged on Friday afternoon that he might be killed in a police encounter at the behest of ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders.
Singh made the statement hours after a police team went to his home at Bhatpara in search of one of his nephews but were denied entry by Central paramilitary force personnel in charge of Singh’s security as the officers did not have a search warrant.
In a tweet in Hindi, BJP national general secretary Kaliash Vijayvargiya said police may try to kill Singh and his son and cautioned chief minister Mamata Banerjee that the fallout would be serious if that happened.
“Police surrounded the home of Barrackpore BJP MP Arjun Singh. We fear that Singh and his son, legislator Pawan Singh, may be killed in an encounter. Mamata Ji the fallout will be serious if it happens,” tweeted Vijayvargiya.
Senior officers of Barrackpore police district refused to comment on the visit of the police team but state food minister and district Trinamool Congress (TMC) president Jyotipriyo Mullick alleged that it was in connection with a bank scam.
“The raid was in connection with a scam at a local cooperative bank. The culture of encounter is nurtured in Uttar Pradesh. West Bengal does not believe in encounter killings. Arjun Singh is saying all this for media coverage. He is looking for publicity,” said Mullick.
“I am ready to die to free West Bengal from the misrule of TMC,” said the BJP leader.
Arjun Singh, a former four-time TMC legislator from Bhatpara and former chairman of the local civic body, joined the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and defeated TMC’s two-time MP Dinesh Trivedi from Barrackpore. Singh’s son is the legislator from Bhatpara.
There have been several political clashes in different parts of the constituency, including Bhatpara, during and after the Lok Sabha election. In the most recent incident, Dharmendra Singh, a local TMC leader in the Kankinara industrial area was shot in the head by two motorcycle-borne men on Wednesday morning. The incident triggered tension in the area. The TMC leader is admitted in a private hospital in Kolkata.
The region has a sizeable Hindi-speaking population comprising jute mill and factory workers hailing mostly from Bihar.
