Author: Our Correspondent
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: November 10, 2004
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041110/asp/bengal/story_3987059.asp
A CPM leader, who had fined an alleged
molester at a conciliation meeting, was shot and beheaded by the accused
and his men in front of his wife and daughter this morning.
At Pipulkhola in Karimpur, about
190 km from Calcutta, Ahachand Shaho's supporters then hunted down the
leader of the gang, Jabbar Ali, and thrashed him unconscious. He died at
Behrampore Hospital later.
A popular leader in the area, Shaho,
45, was a party local committee member and the deputy chief of the Dorahadaha
gram panchayat.
Police said he incurred Jabbar's
wrath by fining him Rs 15,000 in August for allegedly molesting tribal
farmer Kartick Mal's wife and sister. "Jabbar fled the area after the shalishi
meeting," said additional superintendent of police Biswarup Ghosh.
"When Shaho discovered that Jabbar
had fled, he made Kartick lodge an FIR."
Around 4 this morning, Jabbar's
gang broke open the door to his house and barged in. One of them shot him
twice from a revolver. Then, to make sure Shaho was dead, another chopped
his head off.
The villagers rushed in attracted
by cries of help from Achhia Bibi and Shaho's 14-year- old daughter Merina.
Jabbar and his associates hurled bombs as they fled.
But Merina, a Class VIII student
in a local school, recognised Jabbar even in the moments of shock. Villagers
seething with anger then split into groups and launched a search. Jabbar
was seen running across a field towards Domkol in Murshidabad. But the
mob caught up with him.
When a force led by Tehatta subdivisional
police officer Kankan Barui arrived, the villagers were all over Jabbar
in the paddy field. He was on the ground limp, unconscious and profusely
bleeding.
Nadia CPM secretary Ashu Ghosh said
Shaho was very popular. "He was straightforward and stubborn about rooting
out crime."
