Farooq Alam at the nursing home on Monday. Picture by Mehedi Hedaytullah

Islampur, Nov. 30: A second year student of Islampur College and CPM supporter was accosted on his way to the institution and his left hand severed, allegedly by Congress backed goons on a day when a BJP sponsored bandh had left the streets deserted and none to answer to the boy’s call for help.

Doctors at a private nursing home where Farooq Alam was admitted said his hand will probably have to be amputated. “We are trying our best, but we have to amputate his hand to save his life,” said Dr Majhar Alam.

The incident took place at Dhuligaon More, 25km from here, around 11am.

Farooq had set out for college on his motorcycle for selection test for the Part II exams. Traffic was scarce and there was hardly anyone around at Dhuligaon More, which is usually a busy crossing. The gang of eight surrounded the motorcycle, forced Farooq to get down and brought the sword down on his left arm near the shoulder. They also hit him on the left wrist.

Mohammed Farazuddin, a local committee member of the CPM, alleged that Congress-backed “anti-socials” had attempted to murder his brother. Farazuddin said the gang today was led by local Congress strongman Mohammed Abdul. In February, he had shot at another of Farooq’s siblings, Mohammed Zainal. The family resides in Srijali, which is part of the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat. However, the Islampur area and North Dinajpur as a whole is known as a Congress hub.

“Our only fault is that we belong to the CPM and we had fought against the anti-social activities in the area. That is why they have been targeting our family members. When Farooq was attacked, there were only one or two persons around because of the bandh. They informed us and when we reached the spot, a stone’s throw from our house, the attackers had fled,” Farazuddin said.

In Malda, another Congress bastion around 250km away, violence had claimed five persons in the past one month. While three belonged to the CPM, two were from the Congress. Not only that, the son of a Citu leader was shot dead at his house on Saturday, a few hours after several peace initiatives which included two all-party meetings and one peace march.

According to Farazuddin, Abdul and his men had been pressuring them to withdraw the case pending against his gang in connection with the attempt to murder Zainal.

Farazuddin also alleged that the police inaction against the Congress-backed toughs had emboldened them still further. “The miscreants have a nexus with a section of local police officers,” he said.

Secretary of the zonal committee of the CPM Swapan Guha Niyogi shared Farazuddin’s views. He alleged that Abdul had been roaming about freely even though the police always claimed that he had been absconding.

“Even today, the police reached the spot long time after the incident had taken place. This helped the miscreants flee,” Niyogi said.

President of Srijali zonal committee of the Congress Mohammed Kamauddin, however, claimed that his party was in no way involved in the attack on Farooq.

The CPM, he alleged, was making such campaigns with an eye to malign his party.

Subdivisional police officer David Lepcha admitted that Abdul and his men were involved in today’s attack on Farooq. A police picket has been set up in the area and intensive patrolling has been introduced.

“They had fled the area soon after the incident. We have started a combing operation in Islampur and adjoining areas looking for the miscreants,” Lepcha said.

Inspector-general of police (north Bengal) K.L. Tamta said he had ordered the local force to arrest the anti-socials at the earliest. He said several cases including a case of attempt to murder was pending against Abdul.