A grocer, stated to be a BJP worker, was shot dead in front of his wife by unidentified miscreants in Nadia district.

A police officer on Saturday said 52-year-old Haralal Debnath was gunned down at Habibpur under the Ranaghat police station area on Friday night.

Claiming Debnath to be a party worker, Local BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar blamed the Trinamool Congress for the killing. The ruling party denied the charge.

"We were preparing to close our shop. Two persons came posing as customers and asked for some goods. When my husband turned to give them those goods, they fired at him and fled," the victim's wife Chandana Debnath said.

Chandana raised an alarm and local people gathered at the spot. They took Debnath to Ranaghat Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Superintendent of Police, Ranaghat police district, VSR Ananthnag, said, "We are investigating the matter."

Nadia South BJP president Manabendra Nath Roy said, "He was our booth-level worker and served the BJP since 1995. The TMC had threatened him earlier. Now they killed him."

Local TMC leaders, however, denied that the party has any connection to the killing.