‘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.

Written by Ravik Bhattacharjee

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Birbhum, Rampurhat | March 23, 2022 03:32 AM IST

2 min read

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.

Read | Eight charred bodies found in Bengal’s Birbhum hours after TMC deputy gram pradhan’s death

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?”

Atri Mitra

Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More

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murder cases Trinamool Congress