Nurul Islam’s family members grieve at his house. Picture by Mithun Roy

Balurghat, Jan. 5: One person was shot dead and three others suffered bullet wounds in a rivalry over the right to cook a primary school’s midday meal in Bangshihari this afternoon.

Although the two self-help groups that fought each other with bullet and bricks are politically inclined — Sabuj Sathi enjoys CPM patronage and Egiye Cholar Pothe is backed by the Trinamul Congress — leaders of the two parties virtually raced to condemn the incident. The CPM even demanded exemplary punishment for the accused, an influential member of the party.

The clash that took place around noon left Nurul Islam, 45, dead with a bullet in his chest and his brothers, Mominul, Mizanur and Moinul Islam injured. They were first taken to the subdivisional hospital in Gangarampur and later shifted to the district hospital in Malda, about 70km away. Three men have been arrested.

Sabuj Sathi had been preparing the midday meal at the Prachrai Primary School in the Shibpur gram panchayat for the past five years. According to Rezia Bibi, her self-help group, Egiye Cholar Pothe, and four others, wanted a share of the mid-day meal pie.

The panchayat election in 2007 that brought Trinamul to power at the Shibpur panchayat and at Bangshihari panchayat samiti gave the party backed self-help group courage to demand its share of the midday meal job. The “winds of change” sweeping across the state — the Left Front debacles in the state in recent times — also did their bit in encouraging the groups to fight for their right to the job.

“There are five more self-help groups, including ours, in the area and we, too, had been demanding the job for a monthly payment of Rs 600,” said Rezia Bibi. The primary school is the only one in Prachrai village where 500 people live.

The groups petitioned the block development officer of Bangshihari, who called a meeting last month, and asked them to take turns in preparing the mid-day meal. It was decided that after the Christmas break, each of the six groups would be allowed to cook for two months at a stretch.

Rezia Bibi said it was the turn of her group to take over the responsibility from today. “We had come in the morning and were making preparations to cook, when we were attacked by members of Sabuj Sathi and their menfolk. We were beaten up and prevented from preparing the meal. We called the police and they came and told us to file a complaint.”

However, the husband of one of the members of Sabuj Sathi, Samijul Islam and his brother Mustafijur Rehman threatened the women with dire consequences if they dared to complain. “We did not heed his warning and went and wrote a complaint at the Bangshihari police station. When we were returning around noon, Samijul and his brother caught Nurul who had accompanied us and forced him off his motorcycle and shot him point blank. At this, Nurul’s three brothers rushed to his aid and they, too, were fired upon,” Rezia Bibi said.

Within an hour, Bablu Rehman, Sariful Islam and Anisur Mohammed were arrested. The police also detained Samijul Islam’s wife, Jharna Mondol, but Mustafijur fled.

After the incident all able-bodied men and women fled the village, leaving Prachrai virtually deserted.

According to the local people, Mustafijur, the main accused in the case, is an influential CPM leader of Prachrai, 80km from here, while the murdered Nurul was known to be a keen Trinamul worker.

However, leaders of both the parties tried to avoid giving a political slant to the incident.

“There is need for work in the area and all self-help groups should be given an equal opportunity to earn a living,” said district Trinamul president Biplab Mitra.

The CPM zilla parishad sabhadhipati, Magdalena Murmu has condemned the incident. “We will not tolerate such violence over such trivial matter. I have asked the police to properly investigate the incident and give exemplary punishment to those accused,” she said.

The subdivisional police officer of Gangarampur, Kaji Samsuddin Ahmed, said a police picket had been posted in the village. “We have recovered a firearm and empty shells from the spot and investigations are on,” he said. Sources in the police said Mustafijur has a licence for a 12-bore gun.

South Dinajpur police superintendent Swapan Banerjee Purnapatra could not be contacted.