‘Bhadu Sheikh lost brother last year, made rivals as he got rich’
A police officer said, “On Monday evening, Bhadu went to his usual tea-stall with body guards. His phone rang and he moved some distance away to take the call.
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Bhadu Sheikh used to move around with bodyguards.Bhadu Sheikh is not the only member that his family lost over the last one-and-a-half years. His brother, Babar Sheikh, was also killed on January 5, 2021. While the motive behind the murder of the TMC panchayat leader is still unclear, villagers pointed to the rivalry between two ruling party factions that ran deep in Birbhum’s Bogtui.
A police officer said, “On Monday evening, Bhadu went to his usual tea-stall with body guards. His phone rang and he moved some distance away to take the call. Suddenly, six-to seven attackers on two-three motorcycles arrived at the spot and hurled crude bombs on either side of Bhadu and one at him. They fled as he fell to the ground. Within half-an-hour of the incident, Bhadu’s supporters set fire to at least four houses in the village.”
Locals said Bhadu was previously with the Congress and switched to the TMC with the change of guard in the state in 2011. He had since grown to become one of the richest and most influential in Rampurhat.
A local TMC leader said, “After joining the TMC, he became a strongman for the ruling party. In 2018, he was elected as a member of Barshal gram panchayat and was made the deputy chief (upa pradhan).” It was alleged that after being made the deputy chief of the panchayat, Bhadu used to extort drivers of trucks laden with sand and stone chips at Rampurhut. A TMC leader in Birbhum claimed, “The extortion made him rich overnight.”
With the increase in his personal wealth and political clout, Bhadu also came to make many rivals within the party, a local said.
An officer of Rampurhut police station said, “He used to move around with 10-12 body guards. They were heavily armed.”
Tabela Bibi, Bhadu’s wife, said, “ They (victims of the alleged arson) set fire to their own houses and the police arrested my husband’s friends. Is this justice?”
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