Unidentified persons allegedly fired at the vehicle of Bapi Goswami, the district BJP chief of Jalpaiguri, late on Wednesday when he was coming home after campaigning for the rural polls.
Goswami filed a complaint with Kotwali police soon afterward, a little after midnight on Thursday. Police have seized the car and started a probe.
The BJP leader said that around 11.45pm on Wednesday, he was returning home from Bahadur, under Sadar block. As his SUV reached Panga, where there is an abandoned airstrip, a brick was hurled at his vehicle that broke its rear windscreen, he said.
Goswami said he was seated next to the driver.
“Suddenly, I heard gunshots. Within seconds, the glass of the front left door had cracked. The bullet damaged the front windscreen and got stuck in the wiper,” claimed the Jalpaiguri BJP leader.
Goswami also said that he spotted two youths, wearing helmets, on a motorcycle.
“I suspect they were the attackers. I didn’t delay and directly headed for the police station (around 3km away),” the BJP leader said, adding he filed a complaint against unidentified goons.
As the policemen searched his vehicle, they found a bullet inside, Goswami claimed.
Senior police officers, however, said no bullet was found inside Goswami’s vehicle.
“We have seized the vehicle for probe. However, no bullet or empty cartridge has been recovered from the vehicle. Our officers are gathering information about the incident,” said Khandbahale Umesh Ganpat, the Jalpaiguri superintendent of police.
Malda clashes
In Malda, suspected Trinamul supporters hurled crude bombs at homes of some Congress supporters at Jalalpur village in Chanchal police station area on Wednesday night.
Rokiya Bibi, a Congress supporter said: “The attackers fired gunshots. We found empty cartridges after they left. They are trying to scare us ahead of July 8.”
Nihar Ranjan Ghosh, theTrinamul MLA of Chanchal, denied the charge. “It was a feud between two Congressgroups,” he said.
After the incident, cops reached the spot and central forces were deployed.
Md Sahim Khan, an Independent from a panchayat seat of Milky of English Bazar, accused Mainul Islam, another Independent, of attacking him and his wife on Wednesday night. Islam denied the charge.
