Author:
Publication: The Organiser
Date: February 25, 2001
Four RSS swayamsevaks were brutally
murdered at Sonakhali village under Basanti police station in South 24
Pargana district on February 10. The swayamsevaks had gone there to organise
a meeting of RSS members on February 11. So far no one has been arrested
by the police.
RSS vibhag pracharak for North and
South 24 Parganas district, Tapan Ghosh, said that five RSS swayamsevaks
went to the village to collect coconuts and other eatables from villagers
for the meeting as donations. The swayamsevaks were: Abhijit Sardar (Mahakuma
Sharirik Pramukh), Patitpaban Naskar (Mandal Karyavah), Sujit Naskar, Anadi
Naskar and Bikarna Naskar. When they reached near the house of Anwar Hossain
Sardar, a local Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) activist, in the Village,
they were accosted by a gang of armed men led by Anwar.
The RSS swayamsevaks were forced
to sit on a wooden bench outside the house and then the assailants killed
four of them by firing from their guns at pointblank range. In the melee,
Bikarna Naskar escaped from their clutches and informed the local RSS office
about the murders. The Basanti police station was immediately informed
by the RSS office but the police initially did not pay any attention to
the complaint. The police arrived in the village five hours after the brutal
murders of the four RSS swayamsevaks.
According to eyewitness accounts
recorded by the police, Anwar Hossain Sardar had masterminded the killings.
He had earlier asked these RSS swayamsevaks to join his RSP party and even
threatened to kill them if they did not listen to him. Anwar had previous
information about the RSS meeting in the village and that some swayamsevaks
would visit the place on February 10th afternoon to collect donations.
Anwar had secretly assembled at
least 10 notorious armed criminals, identified by villagers as Iran Sardar,
Zakir Hossain Sardar, Rejaul Sardar, Rafikul Naskar, Hassan Sardar, Rahim,
Yiad Ali Sardar, Manirul Sardar, Abul Jaled Sardar and Mohatab Naskar and
waited for the arrival of RSS swayamsevaks. They pounced on unsuspecting
swayamsevaks and brutally killed four of them. The Anwar and his associates
set fire on his house and asked neighbours to report to the police that
the murdered RSS swayamsevaks had attacked his house and set fire to it
and that swayamsevaks were killed in encounters with his family members
defending the house. Anwar and his associates fled after the killings and
the police is still in dark about their whereabouts.
What is mysterious is the role of
the police. Although the local police station was alerted soon after the
incident by the RSS office, a small group of policemen had arrived in the
village after 10-30 p.m. The Circle Inspector, Abul Kasem, and the district
police superintendent, Arvind Kumar Maliwal, arrived on the spot around
3.30 a.m. on the February 1lth morning.
When the two senior police officers
reached in the morning agitated villagers surrounded them demanding immediate
arrest of the culprits. Without listening to villagers, CI Abul Kasem ordered
lathicharge to disperse the agitating villagers. Kasem was reportedly kicked
dead bodies of four swayamsevaks in full view of gathering.
The murder of four innocent RSS
swayamsevaks has exposed how fragile is the law and order in West Bengal.
In fact South 24 Parganas, gateway of the Sunderbans, is witnessing a planned
annihilation of Hindu population. On January 1, 32 houses of poor Hindu
families at Mouriberia village in this district were looted by armed Muslim
dacoits. On January 8, the same gang raided several Hindu houses at Chousa
village and killed a Hindu youngman.
