Unidentified goons fired at least 12 rounds indiscriminately and hurled about half a dozen bombs targeting the house of a Trinamul Congress leader in the Bhangar area of South 24-Parganas late on Tuesday.

Elderly house owner Fazal Karim Mollah, a former area committee president of the ruling party, and his family members, however, were lucky enough to escape unhurt as they hid under a cot during the firing.

Police have begun a probe to find out the persons behind the attack.

Mollah, a resident of Barali village, blamed the party’s former Bhangar block president and panchayat samiti member Kaizer Ahmed for conspiring the attack by joining hands with the ISF. Till Wednesday evening, no one was arrested in connection with the firing.

Police and local sources said a little past midnight, six goons on three motorcycles with their faces covered with masks arrived in front of Mollah’s house and began firing indiscriminately and hurled bombs. The neighbours called the police but the goons managed to flee.

On Wednesday morning, a CID team visited Mollah’s residence.

The team examined the bullet marks on the wall, door, windows, and on the cot under which the elderly leader had taken shelter.

“Hearing the firing, we initially took it as the sound of crackers at some wedding. But soon we came to know that it was an attack on our neighbour’s house,” Hafizur Rahaman Mollah, a local resident said.

Mollah said: “Kaizer Ahmed is behind last night’s attack. He has been trying to kill me. This is his third attempt on my life… He wants to eliminate me since I am vocal against his corruption. He has been ruining the party by joining hands with the ISF and unleashing terror among businessmen by extorting money. I have raised my voice against him and also apprised the party leadership. This he couldn’t digest.”

“A few months ago an audio clip went viral. It showed how he had conspired with the ISF to defeat Trinamul candidate Rezaul Karim in the last Assembly poll. I have been serving the party for a long time. So I sought justice from Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee. I know he will kill me for this,” Mollah told reporters.

Party leader Baharul Islam called on Mollah. But, he refused to comment on the alleged role of Kaizer.

Condemning the attack, Islam said, “The guilty will not be spared. I have told Mollah to have faith in police probe.”

Speaking to The Telegraph, Kaizer refuted the allegation.

“This is entirely a concocted story, an incident staged by Fazal Karim and his men. In 2018, he was relieved of his charges of being the area committee president owing to age-related problems and corruption charges. But, he still could not accept it and is repeatedly trying to malign me.”

“I have faith in the police and the truth will come out when the culprits are arrested,” he added.

A Trinamul insider in Calcutta, however, indicated that Kaizer was not in the party’s “good books” since the last Assembly election because of his reported hobnobbing with the ISF.

Speaking to The Telegraph, a senior Trinamul leader associated with the Bhangar constituency said: “In Bhangar our party is in a peculiar situation. It is clear to us that at least two of our prominent leaders — Kaizer Ahmed and Arabul Islam — are directly working for the ISF. These people played a key role in the defeat of our party candidate by over 26,000 votes in the Assembly poll. So all of them have been made inactive now and the party’s responsibilities have been entrusted to Rezaul Karim who has been appointed the chairperson of the Bhangar Assembly committee.”

“He is an outsider but we have no alternative if the party is to be saved in Bhangar,” added the Trinamul veteran.