A Trinamool Congress booth convenor in Bankura’s Sonamukhi was shot dead on Monday night while he was returning home on his motorbike from a market.
Police said some goons following Sikandar Khan on another two-wheeler fired four rounds at him from point-blank range.
“The bullets hit his head and back from behind and he slumped to the ground. The incident happened on a culvert approaching Chakai village, where Sikandar’s home is located,” a police officer said.
Residents rushed him to a nearby rural health centre, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
Senior Trinamool leaders of the area, including party president in Bishnupur Subrata Dutta, Sonamukhi municipality chairman and vice-chairman Santosh Mukherjee and Somnath Mukherjee, rushed to the hospital.
Although Trinamool leaders claimed the murder was the handiwork of the BJP and the CPM to weaken them ahead of the Assembly polls, family members of the deceased blamed infighting over control of the area for the murder.
“The BJP and the CPM joined hands to kill Sikandar to weaken us before the Assembly polls. They have become eliminated in the area and are now trying to terrorise our party men to regain lost ground,” said Subrata Dutta, Trinamool leader in Bishnupur.
However, Sikandar’s family members accused Trinamool’s former booth president Nasim Sheikh, of the murder.
“My brother had an enmity with former Trinamool booth president Sheikh Nasim since he was removed from the post of booth president and my brother became the booth convenor. He wants to take control of the area. I am sure he masterminded my husband’s murder,” said Rupsana Biwi.
Nasim has been absconding since Monday night. Sikandar’s family lodged a police complaint against Nasim and his two sons.
The police said they had arrested Nasim’s two sons Sheikh Hasem and Sheikh Ibrahim. “We have already arrested two persons named in the FIR. The other person, Nasim, is absconding,” said Vaibhav Tiwari, superintendent of police in Bankura.
They were produced in a Bishnupur court that remanded them in 10 days’
police custody.
BJP MLA from Sonamukhi Dibakar Ghorami said: “The murder was a fallout of a feud within Trinamool. We have no role in it.”