Ex-TMC councillor, 6 others get life term for murder of party colleague

A court here today sentenced former Trinamool Congress councillor Shambhunath Kow and six others to life imprisonment in the murder case of a party colleague five years ago.

The ninth judicial magistrate of Alipore court, Sujoy Sengupta, had on March 29 found Kow and his associates guilty of murdering Adhir Maity. The quantum of punishment was pronounced today.

Public Prosecutor Shakti Bhattacharya said Kow knew that Maity was suffering from cardiac ailments and he deliberately hit him on the chest resulting in his death.

Kow, then councillor of Ward 58 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, had hit Maity during a factional clash of the party over possession of a piece of land in Dhapa area off the E M Bypass on March 20, 2013.

Maity was a member of the TMC's ward 58 committee.

Kow had been on the run till his arrest from Balia district in Uttar Pradesh in April the same year. He was booked under murder charges in 2014.

Kow's lawyer Arindam Das said they would move a higher court against the judgement.

Two more accused in the case are still absconding.