Two arrested in connection with murder of former BJP councilor in West Bengal

Two persons have been arrested by the West Bengal CID in connection with the murder of a former BJP councilor in the state’s North 24 Paraganas district.

The BJP leader, Manish Shukla, was shot multiple times by two bike-borne assailants on Sunday evening and was declared dead on arrival by doctors after being rushed to a local hospital.

CID sources said that the two accused Md. Khurram and Gulab Seikh were arrested from their residence late on Monday night. The duo were later remanded to two weeks of CID custody.

A case had been registered against eight accused and other unknown persons under several section of the IPC including 302 (murder) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) at Titagarh Police Station.

Meanwhile, the names of two local TMC leaders were mentioned in the FIR lodged by Shukla’s father Chandra Moni Shukla. However, the two TMC leaders- Prashnta Chowdhury and Uttam Das- have denied the allegation. Local TMC leadership said that BJP MP Arjun Singh was trying to ensnare the two leaders into a false case as he was steadily losing public support in the area. However, Singh, who switched to BJP from TMC prior to the last Lok Sabha elections, reiterated his allegation that TMC was behind the murder.

Alleging that BJP leaders were repeatedly coming under attack in Bengal state, BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu demanded a statement from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in this regard.

“So far we have not heard a single word from the Chief Minister about it. Why is she silent?” said Basu. Questioning the state police’s role BJP had demanded a CBI investigation into the case.