Police will ensure strictest punishment for culprits behind Rampurhat carnage: Mamata Banerjee

Rampurhat (West Bengal): Amidst criticism, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday (March 24) took a tough stance and said suspects of the Rampurhat killings will have to be hunted down and arrested unless they surrender, and asserted that police would ensure the strictest punishment for the culprits. Banerjee, who landed at a helipad near Bogtui village where 8 people were burnt alive early on Tuesday, also promised permanent government jobs to members of the 10 affected families.

"Police will ensure strictest punishment is handed out to culprits responsible for the Rampurhat carnage. The case filed before the court should be water-tight," she said. The chief minister announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of the kin of the victims, and Rs 2 lakh each for rebuilding the damaged houses. Those injured will be provided Rs 50,000 each, she added.

"Police has been ordered to throw a dragnet to unearth secret caches of illicit firearms and bombs across Bengal," Banerjee said. Eight people, including two children, were charred to death as nearly a dozen huts were set ablaze in Birbhum district early Tuesday in a suspected fallout of the murder of a ruling TMC panchayat official.

Meanwhile, dubbing the killing of eight people in West Bengal's Birbhum as reminiscent of a "Nazi concentration camp", the BJP Thursday attacked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying she showed no "mamata" (affection) and was "nirmam" (cruel).

The Birbhum killings have sparked national outrage, with West Bengal's main opposition party BJP demanding President's rule in the state.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, party spokesperson Sambit Patra showed purported photographs of the charred bodies of the victims, asserting they reflected the "death of humanity" in West Bengal. He also referred to the details of autopsy reports published in the media which claimed the victims were mercilessly beaten up before being set ablaze. "The entire episode was akin to Nazi concentration camp. These are revenge killings by a political party. For settling their political scores, innocent women and children were killed," Patra alleged.

(With PTI inputs)

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