Shambhu Nath Kow. A Telegraph picture

Trinamul councillor Shambhu Nath Kow has been charged with the murder of his party colleague Adhir Maity.

The chargesheet filed before Alipore court on Tuesday says Maity, who had a bypass surgery, died after Kow hit him on his chest during a scuffle at Mathpukur in Pragati Maidan on March 20 over a prime plot on Dhapa Road off the EM Bypass.

Maity, a member of the Trinamul’s Ward No. 58 committee, had been allegedly opposing ward councillor Kow’s plan to shift a temple and several shops from the land valued at Rs 10 crore. Kow wanted the temple and the shops relocated because these were blocking the way to a condominium where he allegedly had stakes.

The councillor was on the run until his arrest on April 5 from a friend’s house in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh.

While Kow was evading arrest for over two weeks, the police picked up his nephew Debasish Sarkar from a shopping mall at Bhowanipore on specific leads that he helped his fugitive uncle flee the city. Sarkar has been charged with harbouring an offender (Section 212 of the Indian Penal Code).

“Debasish was not charged with murder because he did not have any knowledge about it. He had met the councillor several times after the incident. He provided his uncle logistic support to hide and bolt,” an officer said.

The 23-year-old nephew has been accused of helping Kow’s wife Beauty scoot family friend Biswanath Naskar’s house in Jinjirabazar, South 24-Parganas, on March 23. She stayed at Naskar’s house for two days from March 21 and left behind a bag stashed with Rs 59 lakh in cash and gold ornaments weighing 566 gram.

Names of accomplices were also mentioned in the chargesheet. “Seven persons have been arrested while three others were declared fugitive,” the officer said.