Suvendu visits Murshidabad, offers compensation to two from a family killed in violence

The Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and MLA of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Suvendu Adhikari, visited violence-hit Murshidabad on Friday (April 25, 2025) after the Calcutta High Court granted him permission for the visit earlier in the week. File.
| Photo Credit: Debasish Bhaduri

The Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and MLA of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Suvendu Adhikari, visited violence-hit Murshidabad on Friday (April 25, 2025) after the Calcutta High Court granted him permission for the visit earlier in the week.

Mr Adhikari on Saturday (April 26, 2025) visited the home of deceased Hargobind Das and Chandan Das, the father-son duo who were killed in communal violence outside their home in Jafrabad in Murshidabad’s Samsherganj Police Station area on April 12. The BJP MLA offered the bereaved family a total compensation of ₹20 lakhs.

“[The bereaved family] declined the ₹10 lakh compensation offered by the Chief Minister. I have given ₹10 lakh, one thousand rupees compensation to each of their families. They have accepted it. I am grateful to Hindus,” Mr. Adhikari said. 

He added that while the Chief Minister is ‘bratya’ (rejected) to the bereaved family, he, as the Leader of Opposition, was “accepted” by them. He added that it “proves that the saffron party will do the needful for the Hindu community.”

Additionally, he told the bereaved Das family that he is taking responsibility for “their safety, the future of their children, and their path to justice”.

“All the victims of violence in this area are terrified. They demand permanent camps of the Border Security Force and an investigation by the National Investigation Agency,” Mr. Adhikari further said on Saturday.

A week after the passage of the Waqf Act in both houses of the Parliament earlier this month, violence erupted in the Samsherganj police station area of West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, where a mob protesting against the law vandalised and torched public and private property on April 11 and 12. 

Hundreds of victims fled their homes in fear, while many who stayed have been rendered homeless after the violence. 

Three people died in the crossfire of the violence on April 12. Hargobind Das and Chandan Das, a father-son duo living in Jafrabad of the Samsherganj Police Station area, were killed in communal violence, and 21-year-old Ejaz Ahmed died in a police firing incident at Suti. 

A few days later, the Chief Minister announced ₹10 lakh compensation to the bereaved families.

“What will happen to me? What will happen to our children? The men of our family are dead. We feel sick to our stomachs,” Pinki Das, widow of the deceased Chandan Das, had earlier told The Hindu. She is the mother of three small children, aged 12, 10, and 8. 

The BJP MLA on Saturday also visited other affected areas of Murshidabad Dhulian municipality, where hundreds of houses were set on fire and vandalised by the mob on April 11 and April 12. He donated an idol to a vandalised temple in the area and asked residents to “call a priest and perform a purification ritual of the temple on Akshaya Tritiya”.

“I pledge that our day will also come,” Mr. Adhikari told affected residents of Dhulian.

Police officers in Murshidabad transferred

Meanwhile, on Friday (April 25, 2025), the West Bengal government issued a notification announcing the transfer of key police officials of the Murshidabad Police District and Jangipur Police District, where the violence unfolded.

Former Superintendent of Police of Murshidabad, Surya Pratap Yadav, has been transferred to the post of Commanding Officer, Narayani Battalion in Cooch Behar,

Former Superintendent of Police of Jangipur, Ananda Roy, has been transferred to the post of Commanding Officer, Eastern Frontier Rifles, 3rd Battalion, Salua.