A 30-year-old migrant labourer from West Bengal’s Murshidabad district was lynched in Odisha’s Sambalpur on Wednesday, The Indian Express reported. Six persons have been arrested for the killing.
The victim, Jewel Sheikh, hailed from Murshidabad’s Chakbahadurpur village, and was working as a labourer in Odisha’s Sambalpur.
While his co-workers and family members alleged that he was attacked on suspicion of being an undocumented immigrant from Bangladesh, the Odisha Police denied this and claimed that the victim and the persons accused in his lynching knew each other.
The assault took place in the Shantinagar area late Wednesday evening when Jewel Sheikh and other construction workers were returning from work, The Indian Express reported.
Paltu Sheikh, who was also with Jewel Sheikh and is from Murshidabad, said that the group was at a tea stall.
He added that another group of men asked for a beedi from Jewel Sheikh.
“Then they started asking for Aadhaar cards and wanted to know where we were from,” The Indian Express quoted Paltu Sheikh as saying. “We showed our Aadhaar cards. Suddenly, the group, armed with bamboo sticks, started beating us. Jewel was hit on the head. Some others were injured.”
Paltu Sheikh said that Jewel Sheikh was taken to a hospital but doctors declared him dead. Two other workers, Akir Sheikh and Palash Sheikh, were also injured in the attack and were at a hospital in Sambalpur.
Paltu Sheikh said that he had been working in Odisha for 12 years. “This is the first time we faced such an incident,” The Indian Express quoted him as saying.
Sambalpur Additional Superintendent of Police Srimanta Barik told the newspaper that the labourers from West Bengal had been living in the area for several years and had become familiar with the residents there.
He claimed that the assault occured over a demand for a beedi.
“A group suddenly attacked the Bengali migrant workers after they refused,” the newspaper quoted Barik as saying. “We have arrested six people and are identifying whether more were involved.”
Northern Range Inspector General of Police Himansu Lal also claimed on Thursday that the murder was a result of a sudden provocation and not a targeted attack, The New Indian Express reported.
He added that all the persons accused had been apprehended.
After the incident, local Trinamool Congress leaders and Emani Biswas, MLA from West Bengal’s Suti, visited Jewel Sheikh’s home and promised assistance, The Indian Express reported.
Samirul Islam, Trinamool Congress MP and chairperson of the West Bengal Migrant Labour Welfare Board, said that Bengali-speaking migrant workers were once again being targeted in states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“How many lives of innocent Bengali speaking people the BJP wants?” he asked. “This is nothing but another example on how BJP treats Bengalis.”
Since May, thousands of Bengali-speaking migrant workers have been rounded up in states ruled by the BJP and asked to prove that they were Indian citizens – and not undocumented immigrants.
In several cases, workers have been declared foreigners within days and forced into Bangladesh, despite being Indian citizens.
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