KOLKATA: Several thousand activists paraded through a West Bengal town Sunday with the body of a politician whose killing opened a campaign of violence ahead of India's general election.
Satyajit Biswas, a lawmaker from the eastern state's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), was shot dead at point blank range by unidentified gunmen as he attended a ceremony for a Hindu goddess late Saturday.
His party blamed the arch rival Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi but its leaders denied any involvement. "We suspect a political link to the killing," said West Bengal deputy police chief Anuj Sharma. He added that two people had been arrested but would not say if they were from a party.
Followers marched with the 38-year-old legislator's body from a hospital in Nadia district, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) from Kolkata, to his home village. Nadia, which borders Bangladesh, was a battleground between the TMC and BJP during civic polls last year. There were dozens of deaths during the campaign.
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That compares with 3,770 for the same period last year and 4,162 for 2022, the previous record high