West Bengal on the boil over BJP leader's killing in Barrackpore

West Bengal's political cauldron was on the boil over the killing of a BJP leader in Barrackpore area near the city as the party enforced an arson-marred 12-hour shutdown to protest the murder

West Bengal's political cauldron was on the boil on Monday over the killing of a BJP leader in Barrackpore area near the city as the party enforced an arson-marred 12-hour shutdown to protest the murder and attempted to take the body to the Raj Bhavan.

This triggered a high drama in which the party activists scuffled with the police in the busy central business district of the city.

Manish Shukla, BJP leader and councillor of Titagarh Municipality in North 24 Parganas district, was shot dead by unidentified miscreants Sunday night in the area.

Shukla suffered nine bullet injuries in his body.

"A person was shot dead last evening in Titagarh area of Barrackpore. Police is investigating the crime and looking into all possible reasons including personal enmity because the victim was accused in some cases of murder and attempt of murder," the West Bengal Police said on Twitter.

While the BJP accused TMC for the killing of Shukla, who had joined the saffron outfit from the regional party in 2019, the ruling party denied the charge.

TMC put out two different versions behind the incident

first saying it was the fall out of the feud within the saffron camp and then claiming that the victim wanted to return to the TMC fold.

The TMC government handed over the probe to the CID of the state police and one person was detained for questioning.

The BJP on the other hand demanded CBI probe into the incident as it does not have any faith in the state administration.

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who has had several face offs with the TMC government since he assumend office in July 2019, expressed concern over the "alarming situation" in the state in the wake of the killing.

He urged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to take note of critical aspects that "run down the democratic governance and lawlessness".

State Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay met Dhankhar this afternoon and briefed him about the situation.

Violence and arson marred the 12-hour Barrackpore bandh as BJP activists burnt tyres and logs and blocked major thoroughfares such as Barrackpore-Barasat Road and Kalyani Expressway bringing traffic to a complete halt in the area.

The BJP activists threw stones, soda bottles and bricks at the police contingent when it tried to lift the blockade. The police resorted to baton charge and burst tear gas shells to disperse the mob and clear the road blockade.

Meanwhile, a high drama was witnessed after Shukla's body was released from state-run NRS Hospital after the post- mortem and the BJP leadership wanted to take his body to Raj Bhavan in protest against what it called "the murder of democracy".

Led by BJP MP Arjun Singh and leader Locket Chatterjee party activists marched with the hearse towards Raj Bhavan. THe march was, however, stopped near New Market area by the police, who put up barricades and formed a human chain at the New Market-Esplanade crossing and a scuffle broke out with the BJP activists.

Later the police allowed Shukla's father and a four- member BJP delegation to visit the Raj Bhawan.

The delegation demanded a CBI probe into the incident and urged Governor Dhankhar to look into it.

Shukla's death triggered a political war between BJP and TMC. The saffron party blamed TMC for the incident and the ruling party rubbished the accusation.

"It is shameful that the TMC has now started politics of annihilation of political opponents. We don't have any faith in local police as this happened in front of the police station. We want a CBI inquiry," BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said.

"The role of the police is under suspicion and we suspect that police weapons were used to kill Shukla," Singh said.

Senior TMC leader Nirmal Ghosh said the incident was a result of infighting within the BJP and allegations against his party were baseless.

Later in the evening, senior TMC leader and minister Firhad Hakim claimed Shukla was in touch with it and had expressed his desire to return to the party fold as he was forced to join the saffron party last year by BJP MP Arjun Singh.

"Shukla was not happy in BJP. He wanted to return to TMC and has been sending feelers to our leadership for the last few months. We don't know - maybe he was killed because he wanted to return to TMC.

"Investigation will bring out the truth. But we feel he was killed due to infighting of BJP," Hakim said.

Reacting to the TMC claims, Singh dubbed it as "baseless."

Shukla, who was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants near Titagarh on Sunday night, had entered politics as CPI (M) sympathiser in 2003-2004 and had switched over to TMC in 2009.

He was elected as a TMC councillor in 2015 from Titagarh municipality in North 24 Parganas district. In 2019 he switched over to BJP.

Meanwhile, Dhankhar during his meeting with the chief secretary expressed concerns over the "political violence and killings in the state."

He had earlier in the day slammed the state administration after the home secretary and the DGP failed to turn up at the Raj Bhavan despite his summons over the killing of Shukla.

The BJP took out a rally at Khardah area with the dead body of the slain leader before his cremation.