BJP faces Bengal firestorm as TMC gets ammo after gunning down of ‘coal smuggler’ Raju Jha

“The incident took place after they (Raju and his aides) came out of the eatery and boarded the SUV. A group of miscreants then opened indiscriminate fire, killing Jha on the spot. His aide was injured,” said a police officer.

The vehicle from which bullets were fired at Raju was later found abandoned by the roadside. The police believe that the assailants abandoned the car and escaped in another direction.

“A few miscreants fired shots at Raju from a blue car on Saturday night. At that time his car was parked in front of a langcha (sweet) shop near Shaktigarh. He died while one of his companions was injured,” said the police.

What has made the incident murkier is the point that Raju was sitting inside the white SUV (a Fortuner) allegedly belonging to Sheikh Abdul Latif, one of the accused of the cattle smuggling case being probed by the CBI.

“The SUV with number WB48D7032 belongs to Sheikh Abdul Latif,” said the police, who have not been able to arrest any assailant so far.

On August 8, the CBI had filed its third chargesheet in the cattle smuggling case in the Asansol court against Vikash Mishra, Abdul Latif, an absconding suspect, and others.

A local BJP leader Lakkhan Ghorui confirmed that Rajesh Jha had joined the saffron party before the 2021 state Assembly elections. “He (Raju) joined the BJP before the Assembly polls, but later he did not keep in touch with us,” Ghorui said.

When Raju joined the BJP in December 2020, four months before the state Assembly polls, Babul Supriyo was the party’s MP from Asansol adjoining Durgapur. Supriyo later quit the BJP, joined the TMC, won an Assembly bypoll, and is currently the tourism minister in the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet.

Following Raju’s death, Supriyo claimed that the former’s joining the BJP was one of the reasons for his differences with other saffron party leaders. He tweeted on Saturday evening, claiming that he was not in favour of Raju joining the BJP. “Any death is unfortunate. If anyone violates law, court is there for justice. I am writing this because, many had problem with Raju joining BJP but against everyone’s differences with him Dilip Ghosh and Kailas Vijayvargiya had inducted him,” he said. Ghosh was then the Bengal BJP president while Vijayvargiya was the party general secretary in charge of the state.

In his reaction over the raging row after Raju’s killing, Ghosh said, “I am not saying I didn’t know him. Yes Raju had joined during a public meeting of mine. Several of them had joined. Many were joining BJP at that time. Was it possible to check everyone’s background. No criminal will be given shelter in BJP.”

On Sunday, Supriyo again took to Twitter to ask “Why aren’t CBI, ED investigating against all those who joined BJP? In all the states, CBI and ED are behind all the leaders of the opposition parties. Even against my present party (TMC), does that mean all those who have joined BJP are saint?”

Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh was on the dais when Raju had joined the BJP. Although he was elected as an MP on the BJP ticket, he later switched to the TMC. “Raju is like my younger brother. I don’t know what he did in the past, but now he was doing good business. I don’t know whether others will accept their association with him or not, but I say, he was like my younger brother,” he said.

Supriyo however charged: “ED, CBI have become two political parties. Those who are in coalition government with BJP at the centre. So their target is only the opponents.”

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen said Raju was a “local coal mafia” and that police will investigate his murder. “It is proved which party is connected to the coal scam. He (Jha) was with the BJP. Let the police probe it (murder),” Sen added.

Raju was said to be a “history sheeter”. He was arrested in June and July in 2016 in fake currency cases and was released on bail. On December 2016, just after demonetisation was announced and common people were struggling for cash, Jha was arrested with stacks of new currency by Kolkata Police’s Special Task Force. The then joint commissioner of police (crime) Vishal Garg had stated that five people including Raju were arrested from an Innova with Rs 33 lakhs in cash and 89 rounds of ammunition.

Raju has had interests in the coal and hotel businesses. Known to be part of the “coal mafia” in Asansol-Durgapur region, he was alleged to be engaged in hotel and transport businesses to “mask” his dubious dealings and project them as “legitimate operations”, said sources.

After joining the BJP, Raju used to take part in the party’s activities before the Assembly polls, including its then “Parivartan Yatra” in Durgapur, Raniganj, Jamuria and Pandaveswar — areas that come under Bengal’s Bardhaman coal region.

A coal pilferage case was lodged against Raju in 2005 at Mejia police station in Bankura. After joining the BJP, he turned up before Bankura court to seek bail in connection with this case. The court had rejected his bail petition and sent him to 14 days’ judicial custody.

According to police sources, Raju used to run an organised coal smuggling and transportation of smuggled coal in 2002-2006 during the Left regime. He was arrested within a month of Mamata Banerjee taking over as the CM for the first time in 2011 and was sent to jail. He was later released. He was arrested again after the 2016 Assembly polls on charges of transporting unaccounted cash and unauthorised firearms.

“BJP ministers used to stay at his hotels (in the Ranigunj-Durgapur belts). BJP ministers and leaders had close association with him. They should first reply to BJP’s former MP and currently our minister Babul Supriyo’s questions,” said TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.

Replying to the TMC’s allegations, Dilip Ghosh said, “Yes, we held meeting in the hotel, it was owned by his (Raju’s) friends, that’s what we know, and we had also paid for that. How does that matter?”