A local Trinamool Congress leader and former panchayat samiti member was shot at and injured late on Tuesday evening at the Dinhata subdivision of Cooch Behar district.
Mithun Rajbhar, 40, was shot at around 8.30pm at Koalidaha village under Dinhata police station limits. The identity of the shooter or shooters is still not clear.
Local residents said Rajbhar was taking a walk in front of his house when unidentified assailants fired at him. The wounded Trinamool leader collapsed on the spot, bleeding profusely. His family members claimed he was hit by two bullets in the neck and one in the cheek.
However, some others said that the attackers entered the house and opened fire inside, and that Rajbhar reportedly managed to come out of the house before collapsing on the road.
Neighbour Pramila Sarkar was the first to spot him lying injured and raised an alarm. Others rushed him to the subdivisional hospital in Dinhata. As his condition worsened, he was shifted to a private nursing home in Cooch Behar.
Doctors said his condition was critical.