Goghat (Bengal): Chaina Bag is the wife of Sahadeb Bag, who used to be a farm labourer in Kota village of Bengal’s Hooghly district. The village is under the jurisdiction fo the Goghat Police Station. Days after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in Bengal, Sahadeb was found dead in a drain. His family say he was beaten to death with clubs. Chaina and other locals blame BJP-backed men.The reason, said Chaina, was that she is a Trinamool Congress-supported member of the Nakunda Gram Panchayat and Sahadeb had participated in TMC rallies.Sahadeb Bag. Photo: By arrangement.Sahadeb, says his widow, had encouraged her to contest the panchayat polls in 2023, despite the local BJP’s exhortations. “His greatest fault was his selfless service to the people of the village. From arranging medical help for the sick to working for poor families without taking any money, he would spend his days helping anyone in need, irrespective of political affiliation,” Chaina tells The Wire.The background In the run-up to the recent Bengal assembly elections, the two ruling parties at the state and central levels – the TMC and BJP – repeatedly exchanged threats during their election campaigns, especially in rural Bengal.Each warned the other of dire consequences after the declaration of results. Anxieties also peaked as many from the village found themselves among the 27 lakh whose names were removed from the voters’ list following the Special Intensive Revision or SIR process as “logical discrepancies.”Speeches by BJP leaders, including Union home minister Amit Shah, indicating that those whose names were out of the list would eventually be considered non-citizens added to concerns.Although polling on April 23 and April 29 passed without any major untoward incidents, violence erupted across different parts of the state from the evening of May 4, immediately after the election results were announced. Following BJP’s victory, those claiming to be BJP supporters have begun taking over several TMC offices across different parts of the state in a manner similar to how TMC took over the Left’s offices when it came to power in 2011. BJP supporters also carried out attacks on multiple Left offices. Raising slogans of “Jai Shri Ram,” BJP supporters vandalised statues of Lenin in Jiaganj of Murshidabad and in Garbeta of Medinipur. In Bongaon of North 24 Parganas, BJP supporters also demolished a memorial commemorating the Indigo revolt.The TMC party office in Kota village has now been occupied by BJP. Photo: Madhu Sudan Chatterjee.At the same time, bulldozers are also being used in several parts of Kolkata to demolish roadside shops and tenements greenlit by the TMC government. Muslim communities also faced repeated threats and attacks in different areas. At least 12 people have lost their lives in post-election violence. Even today, a deep sense of fear and insecurity continues to grip the state.Amid this climate of terror, on the very day the BJP-led ministry took oath in Bengal on May 9, the Kota village saw the murder of Sahabeb, allegedly in the hands of those claiming to be BJP members and supporters.On May 10, Sahadeb’s blood-soaked body was recovered from a drain beside the local TMC party office in the village. A heavy wooden club was found lying next to the body.‘Now all our names are Ram, Modi, and Amit Shah’Kota village is located approximately 94 kilometres from Kolkata and around 22 kilometres from Arambagh. The village lies nearly 12 kilometres from the Goghat Police Station and is under the Nakunda Gram Panchayat in Goghat-1 Block.Kota is home to nearly 800 families, a significant section of whom belong to Scheduled Caste communities. Most residents work as agricultural labourers and depend on daily wage farming for their livelihood. The surrounding region includes the villages of Kule, Raotora, Pama, Goyalpota – a predominantly Muslim-inhabited village – and Dori Nakunda.On May 11, this reporter visited the Kota village. What used to be the local TMC office stands just beside the village bus stand. Locals said this was “taken over” by BJP supporters on the evening of May 4. Because Sahadeb’s body was recovered behind the office on May 10, this reporter found the area cordoned off by police. A lone home guard stood watching.The site where Sahadeb’s body was recovered from. Photo: Madhu Sudan Chatterjee.The moment this reporter approached the site and began taking photographs, four young men – each wearing saffron scarves and with red tilaks on their foreheads – came forward.“Why are you taking pictures?’’ one of then demanded. “The era of TMC is over. Don’t take such photographs here,” he said.After I told them that I was a journalist, one of them said that he would tell me “what really happened.”“Sahadeb was not killed but fell into the drain after suffering a heart attack while intoxicated,” he said. This was repeated multiple times by the others.“What we are telling you is exactly what you must write. Every media outlet has reported the same thing,” another man said.When asked to identify themselves, one of the men said, “Now all our names are Ram, Modi, and Amit Shah.”Also read: As Cow Violence Comes to Bengal, BJP Leader Says ‘Bajrang Dal Will Guard’ Against SmugglingThe men also tried to discourage me from visiting Sahadeb’s house.“Why do you need to go there? We already told you what happened. Ask the police, they will tell you the same thing,” one of them said.Eventually, I walked away and with the help of one of Sahadeb’s cousins, managed to reach the victim’s house.In a dilapidated mud hut on the edge of the village, eight members of Sahadeb’s family live under a single roof. Sahadeb’s father Biswanath, mother Tukai, elder brother Manik, younger brother Sukumar and their wives and children comprise the household.Biswanath had recently been able to construct a small concrete house under the government housing scheme, but the family says that room is usually used for visiting relatives.Sahadeb is survived by three daughters. Two of them are married, and his youngest daughter graduated from college last year.Chaina Bag is consoled by relatives at Sahadeb’s house. Photo: Madhu Sudan Chatterjee.Speaking to The Wire, Sahadeb’s elder brother Manik described the family’s difficult financial condition. “My father owns barely two bighas of farm land. Farming alone is not enough to sustain the family. That is why all of us work as agricultural labourers to survive. Sahadeb also worked as a farm labourer,” he said.Sahadeb’s widow Chaina was inconsolable. “My husband never harmed anyone,” she said softly. “He always tried to help people.”According to Chaina, local leaders of the TMC approached the family ahead of the 2023 Panchayat elections and urged Chaina to contest as the party’s candidate.Even after becoming an elected representative of the Nakunda Gram Panchayat, Chaina said that she continued to work as an agricultural labourer to support her family.She alleged that shortly after the BJP secured victory in the assembly election on May 4, local activists gathered outside their house and issued threats. “They said they would not spare Sahadeb,” she said. “They were asking him why he had participated in TMC rallies and why he had not stopped me from contesting the panchayat election as a TMC candidate.”Members of the Bag family said that several local TMC supporters switched allegiance overnight to the BJP immediately after the election results were declared.“We lived in fear from May 4,” Chaina said.The night in question“On the late afternoon of May 9, my husband stepped out of the house. He returned around 7.30 pm, but later went out again and stayed at the village clubhouse. After nightfall, a storm accompanied by heavy rain lashed the area. When he did not return home that night, we went out searching for him across the village, but could not find him. The next morning, villagers discovered his blood-soaked body lying beside the TMC party office,” said Chaina.She further alleged that blood was coming out of Sahadeb’s ear, while multiple injury marks were visible across his face. Nearly an hour later, the police from Goghat arrived at the spot and took away the body.Sahadeb’s younger brother, Sukumar, alleged that after they were taken to the Goghat Police station, he attempted to lodge an FIR regarding his brother’s murder. However, according to him, the police told the family that no complaint could be registered at that moment and that they would only be able to accept the complaint after a post-mortem was completed.“After the post-mortem, we wrote the complaint exactly in the words the police at Goghat police station instructed us to. We had no other option,” Sukumar claimed.The complaint has been filed at Goghat Police station seeking justice for the death of Sahadeb Bag. Photo: By arrangement.‘Not a murder’Not a single leader or worker from either TMC or BJP visited their home since Sahadeb’s death, the family said.Defeated TMC candidate from Goghat assembly constituency, Dr Nirmal Maji, told The Wire that he had attempted to visit the village but was allegedly stopped by BJP supporters. “Had I entered the village, I would have faced humiliation,” he said, adding that the incident required a fair and impartial investigation.On the other hand, BJP MLA from Goghat, Prasanta Digar, repeated that claim made by the BJP supporters this reporter was intercepted by. “I heard Sahadeb consumed alcohol and also suffered from a heart ailment. Perhaps he died after falling down in an intoxicated state. The death is unfortunate. I have asked the administration to conduct a neutral investigation,” he said.Meanwhile Srikumar Sunni Raj, Additional Superintendent of Police Hooghly, told The Wire that the case was “not a murder” and claimed alcohol had been found in Sahadeb’s stomach during the post mortem examination. “We are investigating the matter,” he said.Sahadeb’s daughter Agomoni said that the claim that Sahadeb fell after drinking alcohol makes no sense. “My father occasionally drank alcohol but if he did fall into the drain intoxicated, what explains the injuries? How did his body become so battered,” she asked.Locals and other members of the Bag family said that Sahadeb has never suffered from any heart diseases.Standing near the spot where the body was recovered, locals Kali Shing and Ujjal Maji said they were unable to come to terms with the death of Sahadeb Bag, whom they describe as a kind-hearted and helpful man. Several villagers also questioned the post-mortem report.Locals recalled that in 2019, following the Lok Sabha elections, a TMC supporter and daily wage labourer named Lalchand Bag was allegedly murdered in the nearby Darinakunda village. Just seven days later, another TMC supporter, Kashinath Ghose of Kota village was also killed. Villagers said that neither case has been solved to this day.Police are yet to arrest anyone. “A person who was seen with Sahadeb on May 9 has also not been questioned,” Sahadeb’s son-in-law Chandan told this reporter over the phone on May 14.“They are just roaming around, fearless,” he added.