This came days after police arrested 49 individuals after a mob attacked Dholahat police station. The mob had allegedly arrived protesting the mysterious death of a cattle trader. In the clash, a 28-year-old passer-by died.
The Muslim community had alleged that the cattle trader was murdered by those associated with right-wing Hindu groups - concentrated in the Hindu majority village of Bhajna.
The incident comes at a time when the BJP has taken a hard stand against cattle slaughter in Bengal. The BJP gau raksha committee and the minority cell of the party had formed an unlikely alliance ahead of Bakr-Eid. While the gau raksha committee is getting FIRs lodged in the matter, the minority cell has been "spreading awareness".
Apart from BJP, right-wing Hindu groups such as Hindu Samhita and VHP have also been actively working in the state to try and stop the consumption of beef. Hindu Samhita, in particular, has been very vocal about the violence at Dholahat - an area in which it has considerable influence in the Hindu pockets.
The BJP has maintained that the Dholahat incident has been suppressed by TMC to appease a "certain community", while comparing it with the case of alleged communal tension at Kaliachak in Malda over reported remarks against Prophet Muhammad.
On Thursday, BJP general secretary Pratap Banerjee said, "Faith of the common man in police must be restored. Right now, they are living in fear. We are with the police in their investigation and even the shadow of political interference by any party will not be tolerated."
BJP secretary and actor Locket Chatterjee, part of the delegation, said the team had found the incident to be "pre-planned".
"We spoke to the police and they said they have taken steps to arrest those who had carried out the attack. But when we asked whether they have any footage of the attack taking place, they said there was no power at the time of the incident. This suggests that the matter was pre-planned. It doesn't seem to be a case of communal incident. Instead it is like a Jihadi attack, something like a terrorist attack," she said.
She added: "To use the murder of a businessman, who could just as easily have been murdered by someone in his community.is obviously the work of a few with vested interests. The idea is to terrorise Hindu minority for political benefit. This area is one where there have been a number of terror-related arrests. How can it be explained that so many people allegedly came from outside to spread terror and the police knew nothing?"
Chatterjee claimed the police admitted to not being able to arrest a number of persons allegedly involved in the case, in spite of being identified by witnesses. "We urged the police to work effectively. We fear there is pressure from the TMC government to go easy on the accused because of votebank politics. But right now, law must precede everything. The accused, from any religion or party, must be arrested."
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