New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency, Shantanu Thakur, met with what the local administration has described as a car accident near Jagulia in North 24 Parganas district on Saturday morning while on his way to attend a campaign rally in Kalyani. Thakur sustained grievous head injuries and is currently being treated at the Bongaon hospital.
The BJP has claimed it to be a murder attempt and has raised questions over the nature of the accident and the car that hit Shantanu’s vehicle.
Shantanu’s vehicle was hit by a Scorpio SUV car that had a sticker pasted “Police on Election Duty” on it and according to eyewitnesses, the Scorpio that hit Shantanu’s car came from the other side of the road and rammed into his vehicle.
“The Scorpio that hit Shantanu Thakur’s car was coming from the other side of the road and suddenly we saw that the driver lost control and rammed into the vehicle head on in which Thakur was sitting. The impact was so loud and fierce that the airbags of Thakur’s car had opened and therefore he was saved,” A local eyewitness said.
Thakur has suffered serious head and leg injuries and is currently being treated at the Bongaon hospital. The doctors are awaiting his CT scan reports following which he could be shifted to Kolkata for further treatment, according to sources in Bongaon hospital.
The Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency is going to polls on Monday, 6 May, and an incident like this so close to the day of election has triggered a political controversy in Bengal.
The Bongaon Lok Sabha seat is also a potential seat which the BJP is hopeful of winning from Bengal and it is being tightly contested between BJP’s Shantanu Thakur and his aunt Mamata Bala Thakur from the Trinamool Congress.
Debdas Mondal, Barasat organisational district vice president of the BJP and observer Bongaon North Vidhan Sabha told The Sunday Guardian: “We demand that an independent inquiry be conducted into this accident. This does not seem to be normal accident. The car that hit Shantanu’s vehicle had a police sticker pasted on it and we all know how the police in West Bengal is. Therefore, we suspect that there is some conspiracy behind this accident and this needs to be investigated.”
However, the Trinamool Congress has denied all such allegations made by the BJP and said that they do not have anything to do with this accident.
The police is, however, investigating the incident and Special Police Observer for North 24 Parganas appointed by the Election Commission, speaking to this newspaper, said, “Yes, an accident has taken place and the police is investigating this case. We have asked for a report from the Superintendent of Police and we would not like to further comment on this.”