BJP leader Raju Jha shot dead in West Bengal's Shaktigarh

A businessman and BJP leader was allegedly shot dead in West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district on Saturday evening, police said.

Raju Jha, the Durgapur-based businessman, was on the way to Kolkata when he was attacked outside a sweet shop in Amra in Shaktigarh police station area, they said.

Two persons arrived in a car when Jha was waiting in his SUV outside the shop. While one of the accused broke the window glass of his car with a rod, the other one started firing at him, police said.

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Several rounds were fired, killing Jha at the spot and injuring two other persons who were accompanying him, they said.

Jha, who was in the hotel business, had joined the BJP ahead of the last assembly elections. He was also arrested in a coal smuggling case.

Following the incident, the accused fled the spot. The injured persons were undergoing treatment at a hospital, police said.

Senior police officers visited the spot where the incident happened.

Police said an investigation was started.