Trinamool councillor arrested for allegedly ‘beating elderly man to death’ over illegal construction

A Trinamool Congress councillor was arrested on Sunday (February 8, 2026) in connection with an alleged deadly assault over an illegal construction that led to the death of an 81-year-old man. The TMC has suspended the suspect from the party for six years.

The accused Rabindranath Bhattacharya is councillor of Ward 23 in Barrackpore municipality, North 24 Parganas district. He was arrested on Sunday (February 8, 2026) and produced at the Barrackpore court on Monday (February 9, 2026).

Barrackpore police said that the family of the deceased has written a formal complaint detailing the alleged assault by Mr. Bhattacharya. “He was accused of assaulting the old man. We have registered a complaint and are trying to ascertain the facts from eyewitnesses and CCTV footage,” Indra Badan Jha, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Barrackpore, told reporters.

Illegal construction

The deceased Tulshi Adhikari and his family had complained to Mr. Bhattacharya about an illegal construction right beside their house, but no action was taken. Family members of the deceased said that the family wrote a formal complaint to the municipality after no action was taken to stop the construction.

Subsequently, Mr. Adhikari’s son was allegedly attacked by Mr. Bhattacharya on Sunday (February 8, 2026) morning. When Mr Adhikari intervened, he was also allegedly assaulted, leading to his death, his family claimed. 

“He is a public representative and a law professional. How could he commit such a crime? We want justice for our father,” a relative of the deceased told media persons.

Suspect denies involvement

“This is all a lie. I do not know who made the complaints. Tulshi Adhikari’s son assaulted me. I have heard he was sick and that he was taken to the hospital,” Mr. Bhattacharya said on Sunday (February 8, 2026) before his arrest.

On Monday (February 9, 2026), Arjun Singh, a senior Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader from North 24 Parganas, led a protest march against the TMC leader. They scuffled with local police and blocked roads during the protests. They demanded capital punishment for the accused and said that the assault on the deceased was deliberate and not accidental.

“Beating an 81-year-old to death over an illegal construction? Under Home Minister @MamataOfficial, law and order has become a cruel joke in West Bengal,” BJP West Bengal’s official page on X wrote on Monday (February 9, 2026).

Meanwhile, TMC’s Barrackpore MP Partha Bhowmick said that the accused had been suspended from the party for six years and that their party would not shield anyone involved in such crimes.

“The party has already suspended him. No other party takes such action. We have taken action from our side, now the rest will be taken care of by the police,” former Rajya Sabha MP and TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said on Monday (February 9, 2026).