I am shocked over Atiq Ahmad's murder: Mamata

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday expressed deep anguish over the murder of former MP Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf in Uttar Pradesh and claimed that she is really "shocked" over the twin murder.

"I am shocked by the brazen anarchy and total collapse of law & order in Uttar Pradesh. It is shameful that perpetrators are now taking the law in their own hands, unfazed by the police and media presence. Such unlawful acts have no place in our constitutional democracy," the chief minister said in a Twitter message on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the twin murder at Uttar Pradesh was also referred to by the West Bengal municipal affairs & urban development minister and the Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Firhad Hakim while addressing at a public rally at Suri in Birbhum district on Sunday afternoon.

"In West Bengal, UP- like encounters never happen. If you trust in BJP then West Bengal will also turn into an UP, where only Encounter Raj will prevail," Hakim said at the rally, considered to be a counter- rally to the one addressed by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the same venue last Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, Hakim also held the Uttar Pradesh government and the Union home ministry responsible for the cattle- smuggling to Bangladesh. "The cattle mainly come from Uttar Pradesh and then are smuggled to Bangladesh. So, the Uttar Pradesh government and the Union home ministry, which controls the Border Security Force, are the biggest beneficiaries of the cattle smuggling," Hakim said.