A daylong sit-in was organised by the TMC on Sunday near the residence of Union Minister of State for Home Nisith Pramanik at Bhetaguri in Cooch Behar district, seeking justice for an “innocent Rajbanshi youth who was branded as cattle smuggler and shot dead by the BSF”.
According to local officials, Section 144 of CrPC has been imposed over a 150 metre-radius around the minister’s residence, with heavy security arrangements made in the area to prevent any untoward situation.
The TMC, protesting over the death of 24-year-old Prem Kumar Barman in Dinhata block, sought immediate action against those involved. The agitators raised slogans against the BJP-led Centre, the BSF and Pramanik.
Central forces were seen guarding the perimeter of Pramanik’s house during the day. Additionally, bamboo barricades have been put up to prevent anyone from breaching the prohibitory orders.
State police personnel were also seen keeping guard at Bhetaguri.
North Bengal Development minister and Dinhata’s TMC MLA Udayan Guha, former state ministers Paresh Adhikari and Binoy Barman, were among those who took part in the daylong protest.
Addressing the participants of the sit-in, Guha claimed, “Those who support such killings are not human beings.” He demanded that the home ministry take punitive action against the ones responsible for the firing.
Barman was gunned down, allegedly by a BSF constable, in Dinhata block near the India-Bangladesh border in December 2022. Family members had claimed that the 24-year-old was a “migrant labourer who had returned home a few days before the tragedy”.
The BSF contended that the deceased was a “cattle smuggler”.
TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, during a public meeting in Coochbehar district a week back, had called for a demonstration by party workers to protest the death of Barman.
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