Agartala: Two brothers were arrested for gunning down a local BJP worker here late on Saturday night.
Speaking to The Telegraph, officiating superintendent of police (control) Harkumar Debbarma said Biswajit Pal, 35, was shot dead from close range near his house around midnight. Pal died of a single bullet wound, he said.
"He was a medical representative and was on his way home from work when he was waylaid and murdered," the official said.
The SP said an FIR was lodged by the brother of the victim against Pranjit Bhowmik and Pijush Bhowmik, both residents of the same locality. Pal's widow claimed that her husband and Pranjit had once been business partners. She said the relation might have soured because of political reasons as Biswajit was a BJP worker and the others were former CPM cadres.
A country-made gun was recovered from a pond close to the crime scene, which the police said could be the murder weapon.
Reacting to the incident, BJP spokesperson Ashok Sinha said the incident was "unfortunate" and "terrible".
"There is definitely some conspiracy going on. It appears there is a fifth column working in the state police. We demand tight policing and punishment of the culprits," Sinha said.
In an oblique reference to the CPM, Sinha said murder was a popular tactics of anti-democratic forces and killing him was a warning that conspiracies were going on to damage law and order.
However, the CPM denied any role in the incident. The party's state secretariat committee member Narayan Kar said among two persons arrested in connection with the murder, one is a BJP mandal vice-president.
The CPM had earlier accused the ruling BJP and its ally the IPFT of involvement in the murder of four party workers since March 3 this year.