Odisha police claim it was a group dispute, not targeted

Sambalpur/Suti: A 20-year-old villager from Suti in Bengal’s Murshidabad district, who had travelled to Odisha’s Sambalpur just five days ago for his first job as a mason, was lynched by a mob on Wednesday night. While his family and co-workers alleged he was attacked after accused of being a Bangladeshi, police said it was the fallout of monetary dispute.Sheikh Juel Rana was the only son of his parents. Two other migrant workers from Bengal who were with him were critically injured. Odisha police have arrested six persons.In a written complaint to Suti police, Juel’s mother, Nazma Bibi, said her son had left for Sambalpur on December 20. She wrote: “On December 24 at around 8.30 pm, I received a call that seven to eight locals attacked my son and his colleagues near their workplace in Odisha. They accused them of being Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis and threatened to kill them. While doing so, they brutally assaulted my son and his colleagues with sticks, iron rods and sharp weapons. My son died on the spot, and the others are now undergoing treatment.”Juel’s father, Ziaul Haque, also a mason, currently works in Kerala. Odisha Police said the clash took place at an under-construction building in Danipali under Ainthapali police station when local youths reportedly approached the workers and smoked bidis with them. An argument broke out after the youths allegedly demanded to see their Aadhaar cards. The altercation soon turned violent.SP (Sambalpur) Mukesh Bhamu said: “The quarrel began over smoking bidis but quickly escalated. One person died, and two others were injured. Police have arrested six persons, and anyone else involved will be arrested.”Naushad Ali, a worker from Murshidabad, who claimed to have witnessed the attack, said the workers were sitting near a bonfire when a group of youths approached them asking for bidis. “After taking the bidis, they accused the workers of being from Bangladesh and then started assaulting them,” he said.Following the incident, Suti block officials, police officers and Trinamool MLA Imani Biswas visited Juel’s mother in Chakbahadurpur. Biswas said: “The miscreants attacked the three and were forcing them to chant Jai Shri Ram. We are trying to bring the body home at the earliest after the post-mortem.”The killing has triggered fear among Bengali-speaking labourers in Sambalpur. Mason Majhar Khan said migrant workers are frequently mistaken for Bangladeshis. “We are not Bangladeshis. People suspect and attack us by calling us Bangladeshis. We request the state government to give us protection,” he said.Bengal migrant welfare board chairperson Samirul Islam alleged political targeting: “Once again, Bengali-speaking migrant workers have been attacked in a BJP-governed state. They were branded as Bangladeshi infiltrators. How many innocent Bengali-speaking lives does the BJP want?”Bengal minister Shashi Panja added: “Bengali-speaking migrant labourers in BJP-governed states are continuously targeted, tortured and killed. Three workers were assaulted in Sambalpur after being branded Bangladeshis simply for speaking Bengali. Why are BJP leaders silent?”However, Odisha police said the violence was not linked to any communal or linguistic issue. Inspector General Himanshu Lal said the clash arose from a monetary dispute between two groups. “All six accused have been arrested, and further scientific investigation is underway. There is no communal or linguistic angle to the incident,” he said.