Trinamul Congress councillor Dulal Sarkar was shot dead by unidentified miscreants in West Bengal’s Malda district on Thursday morning, police said.

Sarkar, the TMC councillor from Malda, was shot in his head multiple times from close range by bike-borne assailants at Jhaljhalia More area, they said.

“He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to injuries. A probe has been initiated and we are trying to identify the culprits,” a senior police officer told PTI.

Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee expressed shock over the killing of Sarkar, who was popularly known as Babla.

“My close associate and a very popular leader, Babla Sarkar, has been murdered today. From the beginning of the Trinamool Congress, he (and his wife Chaitali Sarkar) worked hard for the party, and Babla was also elected a councillor,” she said in a post on X.

“... I am so shocked and sad that I do not know how to convey my condolences to the bereaved family. May God give Chaitali strength to survive and fight the battle,” she added.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.