A prominent Trinamool Congress leader in Malda district was shot dead by three masked men who chased his car and carried out the murder when he got off to enter his plywood factory here on Thursday morning.
Dulal Sarkar, 62, was the councillor of Ward 22 of Englishbazar municipality. Police have detained two persons so far.
Sources said Sarkar was going to his plywood factory off the Malda-Kotwali state highway in the Jhaljhalia area of Malda town. While Sarkar was in his car, four youths on a motorcycle were following him. When Sarkar reached the factory entrance around 10.30am and got out of the car, three of the bikers, whose faces were covered with masks, dismounted and aimed firearms at the councillor.
The Trinamool leader panicked and ran towards a shop that was opposite the factory. The trio chased Sarkar and fired several rounds at him, as was revealed from CCTV footage.
Sarkar was hit by at least three bullets and collapsed on the spot. The attackers fled. Local people rushed him to Malda Medical College and Hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries on the way.
Suman Roy, Sarkar’s driver, who witnessed the murder, said: “As I slammed the brake, the youths dismounted the bike and whipped out firearms from their waist. I cautioned ‘Kaku (uncle) who panicked and ran to the shop. Three youths chased him, fired at him and fled the spot. I ran inside and found him lying in a pool of blood.”
Doctors at MMCH said they found at least three bullet injuries between his right ear and head. “He might have been hit by some more bullets. It will be revealed during the autopsy,” said a doctor.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee was critical of the police. “The district police had withdrawn his security. He was an old party worker and had earlier faced attacks. It is because of lapses on the part of the police that he lost his life,” said the chief minister at Nabanna.
Sarkar, who was also a vice-president of Trinamool in Malda, had been with the party since it was formed in 1998.
On her X handle, Mamata also expressed condolences for Chaitali, Dulal’s wife who is also the councillor of Ward 20 in Englishbazar.
“In 2021, my husband’s security was withdrawn. If he had the security personnel with him, this incident could have been avoided,” said Chaitali.
Nitin Singhania, the district magistrate, and Pradeep Kumar Yadav, the superintendent of police, reached MMCH. Hundreds of Trinamool leaders and workers swarmed the hospital campus.
State ministers Firhad Hakim and Sabina Yeasmin and Siliguri mayor Gautam Deb reached Malda. They met the bereaved family members and spoke to the hospital authorities and the police.
“The chief minister has instructed police to round up all those involved in the gruesome murder. We have learned that the police have detained two persons so far,” said Hakim.
The police, sources said, are still in the dark about the motive of the murder.
“We have initiated a probe. Our officers are gathering information from various quarters,” said Yadav, the district police chief.
The incident, residents of Malda said, has brought back the memory of the murder of Biswanath Guha, a Congress leader and a former vice-chairman of Englishbazar municipality, in 2008. He was hacked to death by miscreants at his residence in the Durgabari area of Malda town.
Later in the evening, the police confirmed the detention of the two persons in connection with Sarkar's murder.
The duo are Mohammad Sami Akhtar, 20, from the Azamnagar police station area in the Katihar district of Bihar, and Tinku Ghosh, 22, who hails from the Jadupur-Gabgachi area in Malda. The police recovered the motorcycle used by the assailants.
