Police on Sunday morning arrested Trinamool Congress worker Jamirul Islam for allegedly threatening a booth-level officer (BLO) and obstructing him from carrying out his duties in Boyramari village of Sandeshkhali-I block in North 24-Parganas.
Islam, known to be a close aide to the ruling party’s former strongman Sheikh Shahjahan, allegedly threatened BLO Dipak Mahato with death and demolition of his house unless Mahato followed
his orders.
An audio clip on social media purportedly captured his threats. The Telegraph, however, has not verified its authenticity.
Mahato lodged a complaint with the BDO, Sandeshkhali I block, following which Nazat police arrested Islam.
According to police and local sources, the incident stemmed from mistakes made by three residents, Salauddin Gazi, Muchha Gazi and Ishak Gazi, while filling out the SIR enumeration forms, where they incorrectly referred to their linkage with the 2002 electoral roll. According to Mahato, he marked the errors with a pen and asked the three persons to submit fresh forms.
The trio, however, accused the BLO of trying to label them as Bangladeshi infiltrators and complained to Islam.
Mahato dismissed the allegation. “Since they made mistakes while indicating linkage to the 2002 electoral roll, I arranged fresh forms for them. I went their homes and handed over the forms advising them to resubmit it. But they turned angry and apparently informed the local ruling party leadership who began threatening me,” he claimed.
Bulbul Rehman, Basirhat organising district secretary of the Trinamool Congress, said he was not fully aware of the incident. “I have to check with my party sources. I can say some BLOs are apparently working as stooges of the BJP to rob voter rights. Arrests do not mean that the accused are guilty,” he said. “Let the police find out the truth.”
Local BJP leader Palash Sarkar claimed this was not
an isolated incident.
“In many areas, Trinamool’s goons are trying to put pressure on the BLOs. Trinamool has become desperate about disrupting the SIR process out of fear (of losing votes). The EC should deal with such threats to BLOs with an iron hand,” he said.