7 dead in fire in alleged retaliatory attack post TMC leader’s murder in Bengal

New Delhi, Mar 22: Seven people were charred to death when their houses caught fire in the Bogtui village in Bengal's Birbhum district on Monday night. The incident took place hours after Bhadu Sheikh, the deputy chief of the TMC's Barshal gram panchayat was killed in a bomb attack.

Some of the locals alleged that the houses were set on fire during attacks by member of a TMC faction.

The party's district president, Anubrata Mondal however claimed that the fire was caused due to a short-circuit. He also denied reports of infighting and retaliatory attacks.

Some of the fire brigade personnel who wished not to be identified said that they found that 10 houses were on fire. We were stopped by local people from dousing the fire. We managed to recover seven bodies from one house.

"Seven bodies were found from one house. These have been sent for post mortem. I cannot say anything more before the matter is investigated," Superintendent of Police, Nagendra Nath Tripathi who rushed to the spot and probed the matter said.

Sheikh was attacked by four masked men on motorcycles. He was declared dead at a local hospital. The attack was allegedly due to a fallout of rivalry of the two factions of the TMC.