West Bengal: TMC panchayat poll candidate beaten to death in Malda

 A Trinamool Congress candidate for the panchayat election was beaten to death in West Bengal's Malda district, with the party pointing accusing fingers at the Congress. TMC candidate Mustafa Sheikh was on his way home in the afternoon when he was attacked by unidentified miscreants in the Sujapur area and beat him up, police said.

He was later to a hospital where he was declared dead. "We are looking into the case. The body was sent for post-mortem examination," a police official said. According to state minister Sabina Yeasmin, former TMC activists who had joined the Congress after being denied tickets, were behind the attack on Sheikh.

"Out of vengeance, they have killed our official candidate. We have asked the police to take action," she told reporters in Malda. The TMC activists, demanding the arrest of the culprits, organised a sit-in in the area. The district Congress leadership denied the allegations.

"The allegation against us is baseless. The killing is due to infighting within the TMC. It has nothing to do with us," a Congress leader said. Malda, a minority-dominated district, is considered a stronghold of the Congress. Widespread violence over the filing of nominations for the July 8 three-tier panchayat polls has left at least six people dead and several injured in various parts of the state.

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