A share trader who was also a Congress supporter was beaten to death by youths in front of his wife and 10-year-old son following an altercation in Asansol in the early hours on Saturday.

Piyali Chatterjee, the wife of deceased Debdeep Chatterjee, 43, said they were returning home in a car after attending a birthday party around 1am on Saturday.

"My husband was driving the car. As soon as we reached in front of our housing complex in Asansol town, our car happened to dash into a motorbike parked on the roadside," said Piyali.

Some local youths were sitting near the bike and came and stopped the car.

"My husband got out of our car and apologised for the incident, but the youths started quarrelling," said Piyali.

She said Debdeep told the youths that he would call up local Congress leader Prasenjit Puitandy, who is the secretary of the housing society, since the incident had happened in front of the couple's residential complex.

"Suddenly, the youths started beating up my husband. My son and I requested them with folded hands to spare him, but they went on assaulting my husband," said Piyali.

Suddenly, one of the youths punched and pushed Debdeep to the ground. He fell on the road, and as his head hit the surface, he fell unconscious.

Debdeep was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.

Local Congress leaders alleged that those who assaulted Debdeep were aides to local Trinamool Congress councillor Animesh Das.

The councillor, however, said he was out of station and was not aware of the incident.

"I am out of station. I have no idea about the incident. But the accused persons are in no way connected with my party or me. The police will investigate the matter," said Animesh.

The body was sent for postmortem.

Piyali said: "I have informed the police about the incident verbally. I will lodge a written complaint too."

The police said they had started the investigation based on primary information about the incident.

"The body was sent for postmortem. We will initiate a specific case on the incident once the postmortem report comes," said a police officer at the Asansol South police station.

Congress workers led by Puitandy demonstrated in front of the Asansol South police outpost, demanding the immediate arrest of the culprits.

"Debdeep was very active in our party and attended every campaign before the polls. He was killed by Trinamool goons because of his political affiliation. This is the law and order in our state after the polls," said Puitandy, Congress general secretary in West Burdwan and candidate in Asansol North Assembly constituency.

Trinamool district convenor V. Sivadasan Dasu said the allegations were baseless. "The Congress has no credibility in Asansol, and so they are cooking up stories and bringing false allegations against us to drag the attention of the media," he said.