|HT|

At least seven people were charred to death when their houses caught fire at Bogtui village in West Bengal’s Birbhum district on Monday night hours after Bhadu Sheikh, the deputy chief of ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) controlled-Barshal gram panchayat, was killed in a bomb attack, police said. Sheikh was a resident of Bogtui. Some locals alleged the houses were set on fire during attacks by members of a faction of the TMC. Anubrata Mondal, the party’s district unit president, claimed on Tuesday the houses caught fire because of a short circuit. He denied allegations of infighting and retaliatory attacks. “The villagers died when their houses caught fire because of the short circuit. There was no violence last night.” Mondal said footage of cameras installed around the crime scene was being examined.

Fire brigade personnel, who did not want to be identified, said they found at least 10 houses on fire. “We were stopped by local people from dousing the fire. We recovered seven bodies from one house. These were charred so badly that