Life term for Bengal TMC councillor, 4 others for lynching fish trader in 2014 | Kolkata

A court in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Tuesday sentenced a Trinamool Congress (TMC) councillor and four others to life imprisonment for lynching a fish trader 10 years ago. The judge also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on each convict saying the money is to be given to the victim’s family.

Tarak Guha, the TMC councillor from ward no 11 of Panihati municipality, his brother Nepal Guha and three others were pronounced guilty by Ayan Kumar Banerjee, the third additional district and session judge, on Friday. The sentence was announced on Tuesday.

Sambhu Chakraborty, the victim, was accused of stealing ₹10,000 by a group of people and beaten to death at Panihati in September 2014. Tarak Guha was not a councillor when the crime took place.

After carrying out an investigation, the Khardah police station filed a chargesheet against eight people, of whom three were acquitted during trial because of lack of evidence. Although the TMC leader was named in the chargesheet, the police did not arrest him.

“Tarak Guha ignored court orders and never attended the hearings as well. The judge had him arrested on Friday when he went to the court to seek anticipatory bail,” a lawyer said, requesting anonymity.

Subhas Chakraborty, deputy chairman of the municipality, said: “Our party runs this civic body, but Tarak Guha was not a councillor when the incident happened. Why should TMC intervene? Let law take its own course.”

Rabin Bhattacharya,  the TMC councillor’s lawyer, said : “We will challenge this order at higher court. The accused took Chakraborty to hospital after he was injured. The man died after he was discharged. This cannot be treated as murder.”