WB migrant worker was drunk, had spat with 2 men before his murder: Pune cops after CM Mamata's post

After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday claimed that a 24-year-old migrant worker from the state was murdered in Pune for speaking in Bengali, Pune rural police said he was killed by two persons with whom he entered into an argument in a drunken state. They said there was no other angle to the incident, which occurred on February 9 late evening in Koregaon under the Shikrapur police station limits, they said. ''As per the preliminary information, the deceased Mahto works in a local industry. Before the incident, he left the house to go to work at 3 pm. But instead of going to work, he started roaming in Koregaon in a drunken state,'' said inspector Dipratan Gaikwad of Shikrapur police station. It is learnt that in the drunken state, he picked up a spat with two persons, he said. ''Our primary probe suggests that following the spat, he was allegedly murdered by the two persons. We have CCTV footage in which the deceased is seen to be in unstable condition and arguing with two persons. The actual assault did not get captured in the CCTV. However, he was allegedly found murdered using a sharp weapon nearby,'' Gaikwad said. The probe suggests that the murder is a fallout of some dispute that took place in the drunken state and there is no other angle to it, the official said. ''We have registered an offence and a search for the assailants is on,'' he said. West Bengal CM Banerjee termed it a ''hate crime'' and demanded the immediate arrest of the perpetrators. In a post on X, she said, ''I am shaken, enraged, and sickened beyond words by the barbaric murder of Sukhen Mahato, a 24-year-old migrant worker from Bandwan in Purulia, the sole earning member of his family, in Pune, Maharashtra.'' ''This is nothing short of a hate crime. A young man was hunted, tortured, and murdered for his language, his identity, his roots,'' she said. ''This is the direct consequence of a climate where xenophobia is weaponised and innocents are turned into targets,'' the CM added. She demanded the immediate arrest of the accused and exemplary punishment for them. ''To Sukhen's family, I say that West Bengal stands with you in this hour of unimaginable grief. No effort will be spared to secure justice,'' she added.