The Barrackpore police commissionerate has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the murder of Trinamul Congress leader Congress Ashok Shaw, who was shot dead on Wednesday morning in Bhatpara.

Ganesh Biswas, the deputy commissioner (north), Barrackpore police commissionerate, will lead the SIT. The police on Thursday arrested one of the suspected assailants connected to the murder.

According to the Barrackpore police commissionerate, Kausar Ali aka Mohan was named in the FIR and apprehended from a hideout in the early hours of Thursday.

He was presented before a court in Barrackpore, which remanded him in police custody for 10 days.

However, two other suspects, including the prime accused Sujal Shaw, are absconding.

“We are handling this investigation with utmost care and importance. We are hopeful of apprehending the culprits soon and uncovering the motive behind the murder,” said Biswas.

Ashok, the former president of the Trinamool ward 12 organisational committee, was gunned down at a tea stall on Ghosh Para Road while on his way to the market on Wednesday morning.

The spot, less than 50 metres from the Jagaddal police station, raised concerns, more so since assailants first burst explosives to corner Ashok and then bullets were fired at him on the day of the Assembly bypoll in Naihati.

Naihati is very near the murder spot and the entire area had heightened security measures because of the bypoll.

Although the exact motive behind Ashok’s murder remains unclear, investigators are considering a possible revenge angle.

In 2020, a local “drug dealer”, Akash Shaw, was lynched by a mob in Bhatpara, and Ashok was reportedly accused of instigating the crowd. This incident allegedly incurred the wrath of Akash’s family, particularly his younger brother Sujal, now the primary suspect.

Ashok had previously survived an attempt on his life last year. The police investigations at the time had linked Sujal to that incident.

On Wednesday, eyewitnesses reportedly saw Sujal leading the attack, strengthening suspicions that the murder may have been an act of retribution for the 2020 lynching of Akash.

Former MP and BJP leader Arjun Singh, however, maintained that this murder was the outcome of the TMC’s factional feud.

“Ashok’s family should appeal in writing for an NIA probe into the murder because explosives were used (before the bullets),” he said.