A man who had come home in a Burdwan village to celebrate Eid was allegedly “blown up” by some villagers, apparently because they thought he was driving rash.

Anisur Rehman Mallik (22), who was from Chhoto Koirapur village under Raina police station area in Burdwan (East), worked in Murshidabad. The youngest son of farmer Abdus Salam Mallik was a painter.

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The police have detained 15 people from the village so far in connection with the murder.

Shoubhonik Mukherjee, the sub-divisional police officer of Burdwan (Headquarters), said: “We have posted a police picket at the village and an
intensive raid was carried out last (Saturday) night.”

Mallik was going to a pharmacy store to buy medicine for his mother, Amina Begum, at the Mallikbazaar market, barely hundred metres away from his house, when the incident took place. “My son was on his motorbike, and when he was crossing a roadside tea-stall, barely 20 metres from the medicine shop, some miscreants hurled bombs at him and one of them struck him on his head,” said a sobbing Abdus Salam.

The blast virtually decapitated Mallik and he died on the spot.

In Chhoto Koirapur and Mallikbazaar localities, some youths affiliated to two groups headed by Selim Sheikh and Lalon Mallik were at loggerheads over the issue of rash driving of motorbikes on the village roads.

“Some youths in the area had been causing nuisance over a few days by driving their bikes at speed in the small and narrow village roads, which left us panicked. Many suffered injuries after being hit by such speeding bikes,” said a local resident, Sheikh Kutubuddin.

The deceased, who had no idea about such recent developments in the village
as he had just come to observe Eid, fell victim to the circumstances, said villagers. “He was speeding as he was going to buy medicine for his ailing mother,” said Sheikh Muzibor, a neighbour of the deceased.

He added: “They hurled a bomb at him suspecting him to be a member of the rival group.”

Eid celebrations at Chhoto Koirapur village were suspended immediately after the incident and shop owners downed their shutters for the day, fearing further trouble in the village. Raina MLA Nepal Chandra Ghoroi arrived at the village and after discussion with the villagers, said: “The victim youth was innocent and had no idea about the recent developments in the area. He had returned to the village for Eid.”

He added: “We have asked the police to book each member of the two groups at the earliest.”