BJP's fact-finding team on the violent incident that took place in Birbhum district in West Bengal on March 21 has recommended Central intervention for the restoration of law and order and alleged that there was "mafia rule" in the State.
The BJP had constituted the five-member team in the aftermath of the violence in which eight people were burnt alive in Bogtui village near Rampurhat, while one more succumbed to injuries a week later, after a mob set a group of houses ablaze following the killing of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Bhadu Sheikh on March 21. The dead included six women and a child.
The five members on the panel — Rajya Sabha MP and former Uttar Pradesh director general of police (DGP) Brajlal, Lok Sabha MP and former Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh, Rajya Sabha MP and former IPS officer KC Ramamurthy, national spokesperson of the party and former IPS Bharati Ghosh and West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar — met BJP president J.P. Nadda and presented the report on Wednesday.
Stating that the law and order machinery had totally collapsed in West Bengal under the TMC rule, the team said there was mafia rule in the State in connivance with the police and the political leadership.
Claiming that "state-sponsored extortion, goonda tax, cut-money and tolabazi" were the main reasons behind the violence, the report said the Centre should intervene and direct officials of the All-India Services like the IPS and the IAS to follow the rule of law. It further alleged that the members of the fact-finding team were attacked and not a single officer or constable of the West Bengal police came to their rescue.
Mr. Majumdar, speaking to the media after submitting the report, said the State urgently needed Central intervention for the restoration of law and order as there was complete lawlessness and the State police was colluding with the ruling TMC.
Following an order of the Calcutta High Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the probe into the Birbhum violence. West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee has also constituted a committee to probe the incident.
