BENGAL BJP leader shot dead

Bharatiya Janata Party has called for a CBI probe in the alleged murder of its leader Manish Shukla near a police station at Titagarh of West Bengal’s  North 24 Parganas district. He succumbed to injuries at a private hospital in Kolkata on the night of October  4, less than three hours after he was shot multiple times in the back and upper torso. The assailants came on motorcycles and their faces were covered with masks, said BJP workers present at the spot. Two BJP workers also sustained injuries. Shukla, who defected from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) two years ago, was a popular organisational leader. The news of his death led to tension in large parts of the Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency comprising Titagarh. Shukla was shot by sophisticated weapons, alleged BJP’s Barrackpore Lok Sabha MP Arjun Singh, who also defected from the TMC remains ruling TMC’s political opponent. “We were at a programme together earlier in the evening. He was attacked after returning to his office,” Singh said. “Police were behind the attack. We saw more than eight bullet injuries on his body. I am also a target,” Singh said while making the allegations. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is critical of the law and order situation of Bengal ahead of the assembly polls early next year, has and summoned the Home Secretary and Director General of Police to the Raj Bhawan to update him on the murder of the alleged political murder. TMC has denied the accusation of its involvement in the crime as BJP was observing Bandh in the area.