KOLKATA: A day after the Trinamool hit out at West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar for his statement on the triple murder in Murshidabad, the Governor on Friday attended the Durga Puja immersion carnival, a brainchild of the ruling party’s supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
While the CM was seated in a gallery with bureaucrats and ministers, Dhankar and his wife took their seats in another gallery.
Referring to the killings, Dhankar had on Thursday said, ‘‘I am shocked, distressed and pained at the brutal killing... This is a critical reflection of the state of affairs and the law and order of Bengal.’’
On Wednesday, school teacher Bandhu Prakash Pal, whom the BJP claimed to be an RSS worker, his pregnant wife Beauty and son Angan(5) were hacked to death at their home.
The murders snowballed into a major political controversy.
Preliminary investigation shows it was a fallout of family discord. The police have detained three persons for interrogation.
"The incident appeared to be the fallout of a property dispute. We have not come across any political motive behind it," said superintendent of police, Murshidabad, Mukesh Kumar.
"We have come across three leads. One is a note written by Pal’s wife indicating a deteriorating marital relationship. The second is a family dispute over property inheritance between the victim and his two step-brothers. And the third lead is a friend, from whom the victim borrowed Rs 6 lakh, who is untraceable for the past one-and-a-half months," said a police officer.
Local residents told police they did not find any abnormality in Pal’s behaviour hours before he was found murdered along with his wife and son.
"He was found visiting the local market and purchasing fish and vegetables as usual," said the police officer.
"Pal had been active on social media. Some of his older posts on Facebook indicate anxiety, broken trust and people backstabbing him," he added.
Filmmaker Aparna Sen on Friday termed the Murshidabad murders as a “gruesome act” and said it was a “shame on us”.
The actor and filmmaker said in a tweet, “Pregnant wife and child of RSS man slaughtered in our own WB! Whatever the reason for such gruesome act, shame on us!...”