CPI(M) leader Hamid Sheikh was murdered on Saturday night in Murshidabad. Sheikh (33), a school teacher, was murdered near his home at Mukundapur. The goons hurled bombs, shot at him and hacked him to death as he was campaigning for CPI(M) candidate Muzaffar Hussain for the Jangipur bypoll. The district CPI(M) has called a 12-hour bandh at Nabagram on Sunday.

Hussain alleged that Congress backed criminals killed Sheikh, who was also the secretary of local committee of DYFI, the youth wing of the CPI(M) at Shibpur.

Ashoke Das, the Congress spokesperson, said it is an old culture of CPI(M) to blame the Congress for any incident. The local CPI(M) leaders have alleged that Congress-backed goons have been threatening them since the bypoll date was out. “A murder case has been initiated and we are probing into the matter,” Mrinal Majumder, the ASP, Murshidabad, said.