CPM accuses TMC men of raping & murdering party leader’s wife

KOLKATA: CPI (M), the main opposition party in West Bengal, has accused activists of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) of raping and murdering the wife of a local CPI (M) leader in the state’s East Midnapore district on Sunday night.

Rabin Deb, state committee member of CPI (M), told ET that some activists of the ruling party demanded Rs 12 lakh from the wife of a CPI (M) leader of Sunia village in Contai, who had fled the village soon after Mamata Banerjee’s party won the state elections.

“The goons had demanded the money as a pre-condition for allowing her husband to return to the village,” Deb said. “When the woman expressed inability to pay the amount, the goons paraded her nude in the village before raping and killing the woman.” Deb said the attackers then hanged the woman’s body from the ceiling of her house to make it look like a suicide.

TMC, however, rejected the charge. “I have inquired about the incident from our local leaders, who told me that the woman committed suicide by hanging herself,” said Trinamool Congress leader Sisir Adhikary, who represents Contai in the Lok Sabha.