An ex-convict is battling for life after he was shot in Howrah’s Liluah on Friday night.

Rajesh Singh, who had once served term in a murder case, was fired upon outside an apartment, Indradhanush in Liluah’s Pathakbari, by bike-borne assailants with helmets on.

The victim was taken to a hospital in north Howrah and then shifted to another private hospital in Kolkata after his condition worsened. One of the bullets hit the victim’s abdomen. He was shot from close range, the police said.

According to Howrah police, a birthday party was on in one of the flats inside the apartment when the gunshots were heard.

Investigating the case, the Howrah police are sifting through the CCTV footage to identify the shooters.

The cops said since his release from prison Singh was involved in promoting of real estate though his links with alleged anti-social activities remained.

“We have got the CCTV footage and are going through them to see if the shooters could be identified. The motive behind the attack has not been ascertained yet,” said Bishop Sarkar, the deputy commissioner of Police, Howrah North division.

Police suspect the shootout could be linked to Singh’s past activities.

In three months this is the fifth such incident when bike-borne assailants have opened fire at their targets in and around Kolkata.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s councillor from ward 108 Sushanta Ghosh had escaped when the firearm aimed at him jammed. In distant Malda, another Trinamul leader was chased and shot dead by two assailants last month. A Malda Trinamul leader has been arrested in connection with the murder.

On Wednesday night the inspector-in-charge of Hooghly’s Chanditala police station Jayanta Pal was caught on camera collapsing near a petrol pump in Howrah’s Ghoshpara, Shibpur after being hit by a bullet. Pal has since been removed from his post, while a probe is on into what happened that night.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has in the last two months spoken on law and order in the state. The chief minister who also holds the home (police) portfolio had blamed the cops in Malda for the murder of her long-time associate Dulal Sarkar. She had also remarked that criminals from outside, even Bangladesh, were entering Bengal and committing crimes. The Kolkata Police had some days ago arrested five people with arms and bullets who had come from Uttar Pradesh.