College student hacked to death in heart of town

Baharampur (WB), May 3 (PTI) A 21-year-old woman was hacked to death by a man in West Bengal's Murshidabad district allegedly over a jilted relationship, police said on Tuesday.

The man was arrested from Samserganj on Monday night a few hours after the murder in the heart of Baharampur that shook the staid life of the town, they said.

He apparently threatened with a sharp weapon some persons who tried to rescue the woman, before fleeing from the spot.

On being produced before the Baharampur district sessions court, the chief judicial magistrate sent him to 10 days in police custody.

The accused told the police that he was in a relationship with the woman -- a third-year undergraduate student of Baharampur Girls' College -- but it had deteriorated in the recent past. Both of them hailed from neighbouring Malda district.

Her father claimed that she had confided in him that there was no relationship between them of late.

The opposition parties hit out at the state government, alleging deterioration of the law and order situation in the state, which made such a crime possible.

Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Chowdhury, who is the local MP, led a candlelight march on Tuesday evening to protest the murder.

"Baharampur used to be a safe place for women, I cannot accept this deterioration of law and order," Chowdhury, who is also the state Congress president, said.

He called for exemplary punishment for the accused.

Claiming that the safety and security of women in West Bengal has reached its nadir, Leader of Opposition in state assembly Suvendu Adhikari questioned how such a gruesome murder could take place in the heart of Baharampur town in the evening.

"There is no word to describe what happened in Baharampur, perpetrators of crimes now feel that nothing will happen to them," he told reporters.