Villagers flee Nandigram on Thursday. Telegraph picture

Nandigram, Aug 7: Guns boomed in Nandigram today, killing a CPM leader a day after a party local committee secretary was shot dead.

A bullet hit Dulal Garudas, a Gokulnagar branch committee member, in the chest as he was walking in a CPM procession in support of today’s 24-hour bandh called to protest the killing of Niranjan Mondal yesterday, police said.

Dulal was hit at Chandar Pool. The spot is 4km from Sonachura, a stronghold of the Trinamul-led Bhoomi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee until the CPM’s recapture of the area last November split the control evenly between the two groups.

“The bullet that killed Dulal was fired from the Trinamul-dominated areas of the village (near Chandar Pool). He was in a procession when he was hit,” said inspector-general (western range) Kuldeep Singh.

The trouble began when CPM cadres allegedly kidnapped a 60-year-old man after they couldn’t find his two sons, pratirodh committee supporters, at their Sonachura home. Sribas Mondal was found in a bush 8km away this evening, unconscious and bleeding. As word about the kidnapping spread, pratirodh committee activists chased the CPM workers with revolvers and pipe guns, leading to a fierce exchange of fire.

Villagers claimed Dulal was helping the red brigade from Khejuri, a CPM stronghold, spot the houses of pratirodh committee supporters, not walking in a procession.

“We saw Dulal with the CPM cadres this morning in Sonachura identifying houses belonging of Trinamul and pratirodh committee supporters,” said Debu Pramanick of Sonachura, whose house was allegedly looted by the cadres.

A pratirodh committee supporter, Sheikh Sofiar, 65, was injured in another shootout, near Garchakraberia.

The alleged rampage by the cadres occurred while the villagers were demonstrating before a Sonachura camp of the India Reserve Battalion. They accused the 20-odd jawans of staying cooped upside the camp when gunshots were fired and bombs hurled from Khejuri.

The jawans argued they weren’t “properly equipped”. In Calcutta, home secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti seemed to suggest the role of suspected Maoists in the flare-up.

“Maoists were active till some time back in the region. I have to find out if they are still there. If necessary, I will personally visit Nandigram to assess the situation,” he said this evening.

Mamata Banerjee demanded the return of CRPF, suggesting the force’s withdrawal was responsible for the fresh trouble.