Two suspected Trinamul activists have been arrested for the murder of Congress worker Fulchand Sheikh, who was shot dead on Friday night in Murshidabad’s Khargram.
Safique Sheikh and Kaber Sheikh, who police said were Trinamul workers, were arrested from a hideout early on Saturday. Police said the duo were directly involved in the killing of Fulchand, a likely Congress nominee for the July 8 panchayat polls.
They were produced at Kandi sub-divisional court and remanded in five days’ police custody.
“We have arrested two persons in connection with the murder. Raids are on to arrest the others involved in the violence,” said Murshidabad police chief Surinder Singh.
Trinamul’s Khargram block president Shamsher Momin said: “How can we deny that those arrested are our workers?”
Fulchand was killed and two others injured when a group of armed Trinamul-backed goons allegedly attacked his house at Ratanpur village of Khargram on Friday evening.
Family members of Fulchand said he was killed because he had dumped Trinamul and joined the Congress.
“Trinamul activists killed my husband as he was likely to win the election on a Congress ticket. I want justice as a wife and a mother of two minor children,” said Manija Khatun, Fulchand’s wife.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury visited Khargram on Saturday to meet the family members of the deceased.
“The police are protecting the Trinamul leaders accused of involvement in the murder. It shows complete lawlessness in the area at a time the state election commission is promising to conduct free and fair elections,” he said. Chowdhury on Saturday wrote to Bengal DGP Manoj Malaviya on the alleged police inaction in Murshidabad.