The president of the Trinamool Congress in ward 22 of the Balurghat municipality was called out of his home and assaulted by alleged members of his own party on Tuesday evening.

Tinku Sarkar, aka Raju, suffered serious injuries and is undergoing treatment at the Balurghat super-speciality hospital.

Later at night, his family filed a complaint at the Balurghat police station, after which a probe was launched.

The attack is the latest manifestation of the acute infighting in Trinamool in the South Dinajpur district headquarters. However, no clear statement has been issued by the district Trinamool leadership regarding the attack on Sarkar.

According to police sources, those named in the complaint include members of a club in ward 22, who are known to be active Trinamool activists.

According to the complaint, Sarkar was called out of his house and taken to the Kabitirtha area of the town, where he was allegedly beaten up with iron rods and sticks.

One of the accused allegedly bit Sarkar’s finger, severely injuring it. Local people rescued him in a critical condition and rushed him to the hospital.

“Prashanta Deb and Ananta Dutta, both of whom are Trinamool workers, attacked me because I refused to agree to their illegal activities. Perhaps they have a problem with me being the ward president,” Sarkar said from the hospital bed.

Rubita, his wife, said: “If locals had not intervened, my husband would have
been killed. We have lodged a written complaint with the police.”

Swarup Chowdhury, the South Dinajpur district president of the BJP, said the incident might be linked to internal disputes in Trinamool over financial matters. “We suspect it happened over the internal sharing of funds. There have been allegations of misappropriation of around ₹3 crore at the municipality. The attack on Sarkar could be related to disputes over that money,” he said.

Pradipta Chakraborty, the local Trinamool councillor, could not be contacted.

Subhash Chaki, the Balurghat town committee president of Trinamool, was brief in his reaction. “I have heard about the incident, but I will not comment on it until I gather detailed information,” said Chaki.