A Trinamul Congress councillor was shot at from close range in front of a party office at Budge Budge in South 24-Parganas on Monday night.

Mithun Tikadar, the councillor of Budge Budge municipality, was admitted to a private hospital at Alipore in Calcutta and his condition was stated to be critical.

Police said the attackers had sped away on a motorcycle and hurled crude bombs to scare away bystanders. Tikadar was attacked with bullets as soon as he came out of the Trinamul office.

“The bullets hit Tikadar’s abdomen,” said an officer of Budge Budge police station.

The reason behind the attack is yet to be ascertained.

“We came to know that Tikadar had a rift with someone with criminal antecedents. Budge Budge has been witnessing a boom in real estate of late. Several complaints of extortion and intimidation are pending at Maheshtala and Budge Budge police stations against the suspect, whose name we are not disclosing for the sake of investigation. We are probing whether he had any role in the attack on Tikadar,” said a police officer.

MLA murder suspect

The prime accused in the murder of MLA Satyajit Biswas was arrested from a train in West Midnapore’s Debra on Monday morning.

Abhijeet Pundari was picked up by a joint team of the CID and police. He was on his way to a relative’s home in East Midnapore’s Panskura.

Sources said Abhijit had tried to run away but the police chased and caught him.

He had allegedly fired at the Krishnaganj MLA on February 9. Abhijit had been staying at a relative’s house in Radhamohanpur of Debra.