A person died and three others suffered bullet injuries in a firing on Friday night suspected to be the fallout of rivalry between two Trinamul leaders in North Dinajpur.
The incident occurred barely 100 metres from the police station.
Police have arrested 11 persons so far.
Sources said that over the past few months, Trinamul member of Jaingaon panchayat of Goalpokhar Abdul Khalil did not see eye to eye with Md Naseer, the head of the rural body where Trinamul is in power.
On Friday around 9pm, three youths reached Madinachak, a market near Goalpokhar police station, on a bike and approached the shop of Arif Alam, Khalil’s 27-year-old nephew, whose house is next to the shop. They started firing indiscriminately. Alam fell on the spot.
Hearing the gunshots, his family members and other residents rushed out. Three of them were injured by bullets. The attackers fired more bullets and left on the bike.
Madinachak bazaar in Goalpokhar, on Saturday. Kousik Sen
Alam and the three injured were rushed to the sub-divisional hospital. Doctors pronounced Alam dead. However, there were no bullet marks on his body and a post-mortem would confirm the exact cause of his death, police said.
The other three, with bullet injuries, were sent to a private nursing home in Siliguri.
Residents demonstrated, alleging police came late.
Panchayat member Khalid alleged pradhan Naseer was behind the attack.
“He is involved in corruption. As I raised my voice against him, we are having disputes. On Friday, he sent criminals to attack us and my nephew Alam lost his life,” said Khalil.
Additional forces from Islampur conducted raids.
“We arrested 11 persons. Searches are on to nab others,” said Bishop Sarkar, the SP of Islampur police district.
On Saturday morning, MLA and minister of state for minority affairs Golam Rabbani went to the site and met the bereaved family and the police.
“We requested the police to arrest all those involved. Our party has suspended the accused pradhan,” said Rabbani.
Naseer has gone into hiding, said multiple local sources.
