Kolkata: A 38-year-old Trinamool Congress leader was shot dead in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, police said on Friday.
The incident occurred in Bhangar area on Thursday night when Rajjak Khan, a close aide of TMC’s Canning Purba MLA Saukat Mollah, was shot at by a few gunmen, a senior officer said.
No one has so far been arrested in the killing of the TMC functionary, he said.
The incident took place when Khan, the TMC’s Chaltaberia unit president, was returning home after attending a party meeting there, the officer said.
“An initial probe revealed that three bullets hit the deceased. The assailants also stabbed him multiple times to ensure his death,” the officer of Kashipur Police Station said.
A police team has been deployed in the locality, and the body has been sent for post-mortem examination, he said.
Mollah blamed the Indian Secular Front (ISF) for the murder of Rajjak Khan.
“Rajjak was returning home after attending two party meetings. He was shot at and then stabbed multiple times. Those who are losing ground in Bhangar are behind this murder. Criminals, who had been given shelter by the ISF, killed Rajjak. They are losing political relevance every day, and that is why they have resorted to such criminal activities,” the TMC legislator claimed.
Denying ISF’s hand in the murder at Bhangar, party MLA Nawsad Siddique said, “We condemn the killing and request the state administration to launch a fair probe.”
He accused TMC MLA Saukat Mollah of doing politics over the incident and hinted at a factional feud within the Trinamool Congress.
In another incident in English Bazar area of Malda district, a TMC activist Abdul Kalam Azad was stabbed to death following arguments at a birthday party on Thursday night, police said.
Azad and three others were attacked with sharp weapons at a birthday party in the house of one Jalauddin Momin during an argument.
While Azad, a TMC activist, was declared dead at Malda Medical College and Hospital, three others – Atimul Momin, Dilbar Momin and Siuli Khatun – sustained injuries.
Main accused Mainul Sheikh, who allegedly intruded into the birthday party along with his accomplices and attacked Azad, was detained later on while a hunt is on for six others, police said.
Personal enmity due to a love affair and land dispute were stated to be the twin reasons behind the killing, police said, adding that prima facie the killing did not have a political motive.
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