A contract killer was hired by political rivals to eliminate All-India Gorkha League leader Madan Tamang in Darjeeling on May 21, CID officials have said.
The killer has also been murdered to remove evidence, according to the sleuths of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal police.
The political angle was seen when the killer lunged at Tamang with a knife, one of his (killer's) accomplices took out some papers and a CD from a bag Tamang was carrying and escaped, a CID officer said.
"Tamang was about to divulge some malpractice of leaders (of a political group) on May 21 at a meeting and for this he had some evidence recorded in a CD, apart from some papers.
And after murdering him, the killers left the bag after taking away the incriminating documents," the officer said.
The officer declined to divulge the killer's name.
"We think that when the operation was completed the killer was murdered and the body was dumped somewhere," the officer said.