Man shot dead in full public view in Howrah; BJP claims killer linked to TMC

Kolkata: Tension prevailed throughout the day in the Pilkhana area under the Howrah city police commissionerate in West Bengal after a real estate developer was shot dead by assailants at point-blank range in full public view in the early hours of Wednesday, police said.

The incident, the chilling visuals of which were caught on CCTV cameras, took place around 4.10 am before a tea stall in Second Bye Lane in Pilkhana, a shanty town in the Golabari PS area of the city.

Till reports last received, no arrests were made in connection with the murder. One of the assailants was identified as Harun Khan who, the opposition BJP alleged, had close links with local TMC MLA Goutam Chowdhury.

While a mob brutally assaulted Mayukh Thakur Chakraborty, a correspondent with vernacular news channel ABP Ananda, when he reached the spot to cover the incident later in the day, incensed locals alleged police inaction, blocked the adjacent GT Road and burnt tyres, prompting the police and RAF to conduct route marches in the area.

CCTV footage of the incident, which could not be independently verified by PTI, showed the victim, Safiq Khan (27), a local real estate developer, having a verbal exchange with one of his attackers and then collapsing after being shot in the head and chest repeatedly by two assailants.

The footage also showed panicked bystanders rapidly running away from the spot after the first shot was fired on the victim's head from behind, even as his attackers continued to pump bullets into the chest of Khan after he had collapsed.

The suspects, Harun Khan and Rafakat, continue to remain at large after fleeing the crime scene which is no more than a kilometer away from the local police station and a few kilometres from the commissionerate headquarters.

Khan was declared dead on arrival after he was taken to the Howrah district hospital, police said.

Police added that they suspected the murder was a fallout of a long-standing rivalry over real estate spoils. Khan's family alleged that the accused had demanded a large sum of money from him.

Gautam Chowdhury, the TMC MLA from the local Howrah Uttar constituency, visited the victim's family and said that the murderers won't be spared.

"I have no knowledge of the real estate rivalry, but such criminals will gain no entry in this area ever again. They will be arrested by the police and face justice," he said.

The opposition BJP alleged that the killers were close to the TMC, as the murder footage revealed that one of the accused, Harun Khan, having earlier pictures of him riding pillion on the MLA's motorcycle and attending the ruling party's public events.

Alleging yet another instance of the collapse of law and order in the state, the BJP sharpened its poll pitch in the election-bound state to claim that "the people of West Bengal want relief from this climate of fear and insecurity persisting as Mahajungle Raj".

The party's IT cell chief, Amit Malviya, called the murder a "cold, calculated execution".

"This goes beyond a single act of violence. It signals something far deeper, an erosion of deterrence, a growing belief among TMC cadre that the law can be defied without consequence," Malviya wrote on X.

Multiple videos circulating online show the accused present at rallies of the Trinamool Congress in Howrah and in proximity to Chowdhury, he said, adding that these visuals demand answers from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who also holds the Home portfolio.

The assaulted journalist said that the attack on him and his crew was orchestrated barely 10 minutes after he interviewed Chowdhury and asked him a few uncomfortable questions.

"A mob of about 15-20 men dragged me from GT Road inside one of the lanes and showered me with the choicest invectives while raining blows and kicks. They alleged I was bringing a bad name to the place. Most of the people assaulting me didn't even know why they were beating me up," Chakraborty told PTI.

"I was bleeding profusely. Doctors confirmed I sustained a hairline fracture on my cheekbone when I was later taken to a private hospital in the vicinity," he added.

Responding to the allegations, senior TMC minister Shashi Panja said both the deceased victim and the accused were promoters and business rivals.

"It would be wrong to link this incident to the party or politics. The matter appears to be related to business rivalries between the two," she said.