People's Democracy

Pradesh Congress Killers Sentenced

THERE has long been a tradition of fierce and armed internecine conflict over land, urban property, and ‘area of influence,’ among the Pradesh Congress leadership at Berhampore in the district of Murshidabad.

This is of course over and above the almost routine and vicious attacks that the various Pradesh Congress groups mount from time to time on the leaders and workers of the CPI(M), that have resulted in more than a dozen deaths over the past five years.

The recent verdict of the Berhampore ‘fast track’ court indicting six Pradesh Congress workers for the brutal murder of fellow Pradesh Congress activist Sentu Sheikh has once again underlined the violent nature of Pradesh Congress politics. The Pradesh Congress had hitherto wanted, as per tradition, to blame the Left Front for the murder.

The principal aggressive and warring group of the Pradesh Congress factions in Murshidabad is led by Adhir Chaudhuri, who is an MP and is a P R Dasmunshi loyalist. It has been seen that any amount of opposition to Adhir’s brand of politics results in the decimation of the ranks of his detractors within the Pradesh Congress in Murshidabad. The present case was no exception.

The fracas started some time back when Sentu joined hands with Pradesh Congress strongmen like Niyamat to build up an opposition to Adhir’s men at the Hariharpara Gram Panchayat. The results proved fatal for Sentu. He was murdered in broad daylight and in front of his infant son Rahul (who remained traumatised for a long time after the grisly killing) by the Pradesh Congress goons.