On Sunday (March 27), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed there is a conspiracy behind the Birbhum violence and demanded an impartial probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the incident.

Addressing an event, Banerjee said, “We (TMC) were not involved in the Rampurhat incident. A Trinamool worker was murdered by another party worker. But the media only criticized TMC. We took several steps to find out the original cause of the incident.”

On Tuesday, eight people were killed in the Rampurhat area of West Bengal’s Birbhum after a mob allegedly set houses on fire following the killing of TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh. Sheikh, also a local deputy president of Rampurhat village, was killed on March 21 by bike-borne assailants.

The Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered an independent CBI investigation into the Birbhum violence and directed the central agency to submit a report by April 7.

West Bengal State Minister Sadhana Kumar Mondal said today that the CBI should not follow BJP’s direction in the ongoing investigation.

In an interview with ANI, TMC chief Sonia Gandhi said that she never politicized the death of people when she was in the opposition. She also reiterated her belief that there is a conspiracy behind the Rampurhut incident.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of sheltering the accused to cover up the incident, a charge TMC has denied.

Banerjee also criticized the Central government for increasing fuel prices and said, “After winning the Uttar Pradesh elections, the (Narendra) Modi government has given a return gift by increasing prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas.”