NEW DELHI: One of the prime witnesses in the Sandeshkhali attack case, Bholanath Ghosh, was critically injured on Wednesday after a truck collided with his car in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district.Local eyewitnesses claimed that the truck, moving in the opposite direction of the car, rammed into the private vehicle at breakneck speed, crushed it, and dragged it along until it fell into the adjacent water body.
According to officials, Ghosh’s younger son Satyajit and his car driver, Sahanur Molla, were killed in the accident that took place on Basanti Highway near the Boyramari petrol pump under the Nazat Police Station limits in Basirhat.The driver of the truck fled the spot after the accident, while the truck was found dangling over the water body, the official added.Ghosh, accompanied by his son, was headed for the Basirhat sub-divisional court to appear in connection with one of the many cases that Shahjahan had filed against him.Meanwhile, Ghosh’s elder son Biswajit accused the key accused, Shahjahan, of pulling strings from jail to hatch a conspiracy to kill his father. Basirhat SP Hossain Mehedi Rahaman confirmed that injured Ghosh was first taken to a local hospital and later shifted to a private hospital in Kolkata.The bodies of the deceased were sent to the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata for post-mortem examinations, he added.Till reports last received, official police complaints by the victims’ family members were yet to be lodged.Sandeshkhali had been in turmoil after a mob attacked Enforcement Directorate officials searching the premises of Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh, who was wanted in a ration scam.Right after the raid, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers were assaulted by local villagers, who, along with Sheikh Shahjahan’s supporters, destroyed their phones and important files. Protests in Sandeshkhali began shortly after the incident and were mainly led by women.The unrest soon escalated into a major political controversy. Women protesters demanded the arrest of TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his associates, accusing them of land grabbing, sexual harassment, and coercion.The National Commission for Women (NCW) visited the area and, in a critical report, highlighted systemic abuse and fear in Sandeshkhali, implicating both police officers and TMC members. The report alleged that local women had been subjected to ongoing abuse and harassment under the influence of Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters.The political blame game further intensified as the BJP and NCW accused Mamata Banerjee’s TMC party of being complicit in these crimes. Union Minister Smriti Irani also alleged that Hindu women in Sandeshkhali were being subjected to rape. This claim added a new layer to the ongoing controversy and has garnered national attention.