An alleged plan to gun down a Trinamul leader in Birbhum was nixed with the arrest of six persons, including four contract killers from Bangladesh, and seizure of firearms and explosives from a house in Santiniketan on Sunday night.

Police sources said during interrogation, the six had disclosed that they had been hired to kill Sheikh Kajal, who is the working block president of Nanoor.

“They were given a contract of Rs 5 lakh to kill the Trinamul leader,” said a police source.

The six were produced in the subdivisional court in Bolpur and sent in 14 days’ police remand. A police officer said Birbhum district police and Special Task Force were jointly looking into the case to find if there was any other connection, including terror links, with those arrested.

“We have arrested six persons, including four Bangladesh nationals with arms and explosives. We have taken them in police custody to find out their assignments and motives,” said Shyam Singh, Birbhum police chief.

Police sources said the four Bangladesh nationals were identified as Rafique Fakir, Mohammed Bilal Hossain, Delwar Mia and Mohammed Murad Murshid.

All are residents and known criminals of Bangladesh’s Dhaka and adjoining areas. They had sneaked into India through the border in North 24-Parganas and had been sheltered by Syed Anwar Ali and Kajal Sheikh at a rented house in Santiniketan. Both Ali and Kajal Sheikh have been arrested.

The police said five firearms, including two 7mm and one 9mm pistols, and 5.6kg of explosives had been seized from the arrested men. The arrested six have been charged under various sections of the Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act, 1908, And Foreigners’ Act, 1946.

“The four Bangladesh nationals are intruders and do not possess valid visas to enter India. Their plan was to kill the Trinamul leader and escape into Bangladesh,” said a police officer.

Police officers said they were looking out for four others who were involved in the conspiracy of murder.

The police sources, however, said they were trying to find out the reason behind the plan to kill the Trinamul leader and whether it was a fallout of political rivalry.

“The two local men who were arrested with the four Bangladesh nationals had past connections with Nanoor and had to leave the area because of rivalry with Kajal. We need time to find out the actual motive behind their plan to kill the Trinamul leader,” said a police officer.

Sheikh Kajal, brother of Trinamul MLA from Ketugram Sheikh Shahnawaz, is a known face in the ruling party who had running rivalry with district Trinamul president Anubrata Mondal.

“Now Kajal has no rivals in the party and is looking after the party’s organisation in Nanoor,” said a Trinamul leader.

Sheikh Kajal when contacted said: “I know about the arrest. They had planned to kill me to ruin the party’s organisation in Nanoor.”

Abhijit Sinha, the Trinamul vice-president in Birbhum, said: “It was a conspiracy to kill our leader ahead of the Assembly elections. We suspect there could be more party leaders on the hit list.”