Two Political Leaders beaten to death in India

23.02.2012

Two political leaders from a communist party in India’s eastern state of West Bengal were killed Wednesday, allegedly by activists from the ruling party, a news report said.

The politicians, who belonged to the state’s opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), were beaten and stabbed by a crowd in the Burdwan district, area police chief SH Mirza told the IANS news agency.

Four people had been arrested in connection with the killings, Mirza said.

The CPI-M blamed the ruling Trinamool Congress and its supporters for the attack, a charge which the latter rejected.

Trinamool, an ally of the Indian National Congress party that rules at the federal level, last year wrested local power from the CPI-M which ruled West Bengal for over three decades.

Trinamool and the CPI-M have been bitter political rivals for years, amid numerous mutual accusations of killing each other’s leaders.