(Top) Akhtar Sheikh being taken to court and Biswanath Guha. Telegraph pictures

Malda, June 13: A Congress leader’s head was smashed here last night allegedly by his driver of 15 years.

Police said Akhtar Sheikh, who was caught in the leader’s house minutes after the murder, had confessed to killing Biswanath Guha, the vice-chairman of Englishbazar municipality.

Guha, 56, was found dead in an under-construction lodge about 500 metres from his house in the Fulbari area of the town around midnight.

The police said his head appeared to have been smashed by bricks. “He was also shot once in the head and stabbed,” said Malda superintendent of police Satyajit Banerjee. A knife and some bricks have been found, but not the firearm.

According to the police, local residents caught Akhtar in Guha’s house and four others at the crime scene. Akhtar allegedly had Rs 17,000 in his pocket.

Banerjee said there were “blood traces” in the house.

“Akhtar had gone there to speak to Guha’s wife,” said Ganesh Banerjee, an aide of the slain Congress leader.

The police interrogated Guha’s wife Lakshmi twice during the day. “It is not clear why she is keen to protect Akhtar,” said the district police chief.

The leader’s first wife had eloped with another driver 10 years ago, Banerjee added.

The owner of three cars, Guha had two drivers.

He married Lakshmi five years ago and the two have a son, who is two and a half months old.

The police said Akhtar had driven Guha and Lakshmi to a cultural programme at the district sports association stadium last evening for a soiree. Lakshmi was dropped home around 10pm and Guha and Akhtar went to the lodge owned by the leader.

Uday Roy, a local youth, heard cries for help and alerted neighbours around midnight. They found the four near the body and locked them in a room. Akhtar was brought from the Guhas’ home and all five were handed over to the police.

A resident of Englishbazar, Akhtar, 32, had been driving Guha’s car since he was a teen. He was remanded in a week’s police custody today.

Guha was no stranger to crime. In 1992, he was sentenced to life for murdering a Congress worker in Malda. He was acquitted by the high court after four years in jail. But Guha was facing trial in several murder cases.