Sources in the union, however, said that Roychowdhury was killed by a group of people comprising workers affiliated to the SMU and the CPM-backed CITU.

The CITU leaders at the mill had struck a deal with the management headed by proprietor and jute baron Govind Sarda over how to pay the long outstanding Provident Fund and Gratuity arrears to 4,000-plus workers, sources said. “The CITU had allegedly agreed to an amount far less than what is in arrears, which didn’t go down with the CITU-affiliated workers. The disgruntled workers had turned up for the SMU-organised meeting on Thursday. When some masked criminals attacked the meeting in a bid to break it up, workers of both unions had reacted violently,” sources added.

Meanwhile, CITU secretary Kali Ghosh said the incident was the result of exploitation of workers who were not paid their dues. “It is an unfortunate incident. I won’t comment on whether the management was involved, however the workers were surely agitated,” Ghosh added. The SMU, formed barely five months ago by Loomtex workers, is led by Sharmishta Choudhury, a Centre for Communist Revolutionaries (Marxist-Leninist) activist. Choudhury told The Indian Express that as per their estimate, the management is yet to give a clear decision about the workers’ PF since 1997, which she said stands at over Rs 15 crore. “The gratuity differs as per the individual worker’s position and years of service. There are workers in their sixties and seventies still attending, as their gratuity hasn’t been paid. No gratuity has been paid since the last 15 to 20 years. The SMU had taken up the cause and we have a written assurance from the works manager Jitendra Shukla that the management would clarify its stance on the PF issue on May 19. The management is trying to discredit the SMU as it is an independent union enjoying tremendous support among the workers. Now, with 15 of our important members in jail and suspected of murder, the mill is closed and the meeting on May 19 is off,” Choudhury said.

On May 12, around 250 workers had gheraoed Shukla, following which he gave the assurance to clarify their PF doubts, Choudhury added. “On Thursday, the gate meeting started at 4.30 pm. It had been on for around half-an-hour when some masked miscreants attacked us. They started beating up the workers and smashed our public address system equipment.”