Rajnagar, April 22: Suspected Maoists today gunned down a CPM leader in Birbhum, making this the first killing of a Left member in this district by the rebels.

Schoolteacher Sridam Das, 48, was a former secretary of the CPM local committee in the Rajnagar area, about 300km from Calcutta. He was on his way to school when he was shot.

The Maoists have targeted CPM leaders in Bankura, Purulia, West Midnapore and Nadia. To this list, Birbhum would be added if police conclude that Sridam’s assailants were indeed Maoists. Rajnagar is close to the border with Jharkhand, a rebel stronghold.

Dipak Dolui, a farmer who witnessed the killing, said: “Around 7.20am, when Sridambabu, was cycling to school, I saw three youths waiting beside a motorcycle. On seeing Sridambabu coming, one of them went up to him and pushed him off his bicycle. The others caught hold of him. As he tried free himself, he was shot in the head.” The youths would be around 28-30 years, the farmer added.

As Sridam lay on the ground, Dipak ran towards them with a bamboo stick. “But one of them aimed the revolver at me and shouted: If you come forward, we will shoot you too,” he said. “They shouted Maobad zindabad and rode off towards a jungle near the Jharkhand border.”

In November last year, the Maoists had allegedly blown off part of the Suri-Andal railway track in Khoirasol, about 40km from Tantipara. Suri is the district headquarters of Birbhum.

Birbhum SP L.N. Meena said: “We feel that Maoists shot Sridam Das.” But the police are also probing if an intra-party feud had anything to do with the killing. “Sridam’s family told us he was not seeing eye to eye with some CPM leaders,” a police officer said.

Sridam, who has a son and a daughter, quit as the secretary of the CPM local committee a few years ago to concentrate on teaching, but he was a key member of the committee.