E-Paper
Days after winning civic polls, TMC, Congress leaders shot dead in Bengal
The incident took place in the crowded North Station Road in front of several eyewitnesses who told the police that the assailant came in an auto-rickshaw and escaped on foot. Some also claimed that the assailant had an accomplice.
A Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader from Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district and a Congress leader from Purulia district were shot dead on Sunday evening in two separate incidents days after both won the municipal polls held on February 27, police said.
Anupam Dutta, the TMC leader who won a seat in the Panihati municipality, was shot in the head from close range by a man near a children’s park, police said.
The incident took place in the crowded North Station Road in front of several eyewitnesses who told the police that the assailant came in an auto-rickshaw and escaped on foot. Some also claimed that the assailant had an accomplice.
Dutta was rushed to a private hospital in Belghoria where he was declared dead. TMC workers staged a road blockade after the incident.
“An investigation has started. Dutta was sitting on his motorcycle when he was shot,” a district police officer said on condition of anonymity.
“Anupam was an old worker of the TMC. We have asked the police to nab the culprits. They cannot hide,” said local TMC legislator Nirmal Ghosh. He did not accuse any political party.
“Anupam Dutta was shot around 7.45 pm. We have found some evidence,” commissioner of Barrackpore Police Manoj Verma said after the police recovered security camera footage that showed Dutta being shot in the back of the head by a man dressed in striped pullover.
The other incident took place in a remote Purulia district at around the same time.
Tapan Kandu, a Congress leader who won from the Jhalda municipality for the fourth time this year, was shot when he went out for his routine stroll with three friends.
His friends and other eyewitnesses told the police that two motorcycle-borne men shot Kandu in the abdomen three times before escaping. He was first rushed to the local primary health centre and later to a private hospital at Ranchi in the adjoining state of Jharkhand where he was declared dead.
Nepal Mahato, the Purulia district president of the Congress, said: “The murder must be linked to politics. The police have to find the truth. We will start an agitation demanding the arrest of the assailants.”
Jhalda witnessed a hung municipality after the results were declared. While the Congress and TMC won five seats each, two seats were wrested by independent candidates.
Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato, the local Lok Sabha member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that police were involved in the conspiracy behind Kandu’s murder.
Reacting to Kandu’s death, Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “The TMC is behind the killing because it was not being able to form the municipal board at Jhalda.”
