India, Oct. 16 -- The Bengal police on Tuesday arrested two villagers, Gopal Das Mandal and Khokan Khutia in connection with the murder of Basudeb Mandal, a Trinamool Congress leader in the Moyna area of Bengal's East Midnapore district. Mandal was bludgeoned to death with sledge hammers and pickaxes on Monday afternoon.

Though the police kept silent on the political identity of the suspects, the local Bharatiya Janata Party leadership admitted that Gopal Das Mandal and Khokan Khutia are party workers and claimed that both of them have been framed.

Basudeb Mandal, 52, a former member of the local gram panchayat, was a resident of Baruna village. His mutilated body was found by the road at Andaria.

Local TMC MP Dibyendu Adhikari alleged...