TMC leader shot dead in Bengal's North 24 Parganas, party blames BJP for murder

KOLKATA: A youth wing leader of the Trinamool Congress was shot dead on Saturday in North 24 Parganas’ Khardah, the Assembly constituency where byelection is due after TMC MLA died of Covid. 

While the ruling party held the BJP responsible for the killing, the saffron camp alleged the incident was a fall out of TMC’s intra-party feud.

Police arrested five persons in connection with the incident and the motive is yet to be ascertained.

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Ranajoy Srivastava (33), a close aide of Kajal Sinha who was elected from Khardah and succumbed to Covid, was shot dead on BT Road, a bustling thoroughfare in the locality when he was returning home in his car, said a police officer.

Preliminary investigation revealed unidentified persons intercepted the car of Srivastava, who was the chief of Hindi cell of TMC’s youth wing, fired a few rounds at him, and hurled bombs while fleeing.

Srivastava succumbed to his injuries while being taken to another healthcare unit.

TMC’s chief whip in Assembly and an MLA from Panihati from the same region Nirmal Ghosh alleged BJP workers killed Srivastava because he joined the party from the BJP ahead of the recent Assembly elections. Dismissing the claim, BJP MP from Barrackpore said the killing was a sequel to TMC’s infighting over extortion.