300 families who fled riot-hit Murshidabad return home

DHULIYAN: Nearly 300 families who fled riot-torn Murshidabad in Bengal last week and took shelter in a school in neighbouring Malda's Baishnabnagar returned home on Sunday.

The "reverse migration" of 293 families unfolded on a day a delegation of the state's governing TMC visited the family of Horogobindo Das and son Chandan - eight days after a mob dragged the two out of their home in riot epicentre Jafrabad and hacked them to death. This occurred during the violence stemming from protests against the Centre's new Waqf law. A third person had died in alleged firing by forces on protesters.

The TMC delegation that met the Das family was led by local Jangipur MP Khalilur Rehman and RS MP Samirul Islam. Their trip came a day after governor CV Ananda Bose met the family. The netas spent more than 30 minutes speaking to Horogobindo's widow Rita and Chandan's widow Pompa. The Jangipur SP said of the residents who had returned, those whose houses were not damaged would head home, while the others would be put up in a relief centre.