Krishnagar/Purulia, Jan. 3: The CPM local committee member killed by suspected Maoists in Nadia yesterday may have paid with his life for a feud over fisheries.

Ramaprasad Mondal, 50, a primary school teacher, was shot by six youths in Madhabpur village in Chapra.

Police have detained three villagers. Superintendent of police H.K. Kusumakar said the trio, picked up from Madhabpur and neighbouring Mathurapur, were being questioned.

Kusumakar said preliminary investigations had revealed that the murder might have been the fallout of a feud over rearing fish in a lake. Mondal belonged to a CPM-backed group that had taken on villagers supported by Maoists, the SP said.

“The villagers backed by the Maoists had released fish in the lake last year. But immediately after this, the fisheries department leased out the lake to small fishing cooperatives,” said a police officer.

The local CPM leadership, too, blamed the rival group for the murder.

“The cooperatives are authorised to rear fish in the lake. The Maoist-backed villagers had no right to stake claim to the lake. Ramaprasad protested against this, which is why he was killed,” said MLA Samsul Islam Mollah.

In Purulia, CPM leaders are living in fear following the murder of CPM branch committee member Narayan Majhi on Tuesday night.

The 42-year-old was gunned down by a group of 20 in olive green fatigues at Besra village in Balarampur. The assailants had left behind Maoist posters at the site.

Three local committee members from neighbouring villages — Dhruvalal Kumar, Subhas Tantubayay and Deben Singh Sardar — today said they were feeling insecure and wanted to quit the CPM.

“We are feeling scared after Narayan’s death. We want to quit the party as there is no security for us here,” said Sardar, a resident of Kumardihi.

Home secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray said in Calcutta that the police would step up security for CPM leaders in the Maoist-hit districts.