The BSF on patrol in Toofanganj on Thursday. Picture by Main Uddin Chisti

Cooch Behar, June 12: A college student was shot dead and eight were injured in a firing on a Trinamul Congress procession in Toofanganj’s Baroitala last night. A bandh called by the party disrupted flow of traffic to Assam today.

The district administration has imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPc in the Toofanganj subdivision. The BSF and the CRPF have also been deployed in the area. Twelve persons have been arrested.

Debabrata Pramanik, who fell to bullets, was a second-year student of Toofanganj College. Pran Kumar Barman and Brojen Barman who were injured are now under treatment at MJN Hospital here. Six others have been admitted to the subdivisional hospital, police said.

Shymal Pramanik, a Trinamul Congress member of Chamta Baraitala, said his 22-year-old son was also a party supporter. He lodged an FIR against 64 people, including the secretary of the CPM’s local committee, Sunil Sarkar.

“We had brought out a procession last night. When we reached near the CPM office, Sunil and Shankar Dey started firing at us. My son fell to the bullets, while two others also suffered serious injuries,” Shyamal said.

Trinamul observed a 24-hour bandh in the subdivision today, disrupting traffic on the only road to Assam.

On the other hand, CPM district secretary Chandi Pal claimed that Debabrata was the vice-president of the SFI in the subdivision. The student wing has called a strike in the district tomorrow.

District magistrate Rajesh Kumar Sinha said the situation in the area was being monitored.

Rabindranath Ghosh, the district president of Trinamul, alleged that the police were trying to protect the CPM leaders involved in the firing.

Cooch Behar district police chief Anil Kumar said the situation was under control.

Highway protest

In Malda, supporters of the Trinamul Congress, SUCI and the CPI(ML) today set up a blockade on NH34 to protest against the attack on Babla Sarkar, the president of Trinamul’s district unit.

Sarkar was shot at by three men near his Mahananda Palli house around 10.30pm yesterday. “The attack on him is political but the CPM was not involved in it,” Sarkar said from his hospital bed.

Malda district police chief Satyajit Banerjee said: “We shall not take much time to arrest the culprit.”