TMC leader Naju Sheikh shot dead in West Bengal's Murshidabad district; police on lookout for bike-borne assailants

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Naju Sheikh was shot dead in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district on Monday, only a few weeks after party MLA Satyajit Biswas was gunned down in the state’s Nadia district. Sheikh was walking in Gopal Ghat on Monday morning when bike-borne assailants stopped him and shot him in the chest at point-blank range. He died on the spot, CNN-News18 reported. A police team has reached the spot and is trying to identity the shooters and the motive for the murder. Sheikh’s body has been sent for an autopsy.

#NewsAlert – @AITCofficial leader Naju Sheikh shot dead in Behrampur. Sheikh shot dead by unknown bike-borne assailants. Sheikh’s body has been sent for post mortem. Police trying to ascertain the identity of shooters and their motive. | @prema_rajaram with more details pic.twitter.com/FcXNnvJJh4

— News18 (@CNNnews18) February 25, 2019

On the evening of 9 February, TMC legislator  Biswas was shot dead  by unidentified assailants as he was getting off the stage during a Saraswati Puja event in Nadia. Biswas was a respected leader among the Matuas, which is a politically sensitive community for both the TMC and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP had recently made inroads in the district of Nadia, which borders Bangladesh. A political row began soon after his killing, as Nadia TMC president Gourishankar Dutta had blamed BJP and followers of saffron party leader Mukul Roy for the murder. Roy was also among the five who were booked in connection with the case. The police filed an FIR in the case on 10 February and also arrested two of the four suspects , besides Roy, named in the report. However, Roy filed an anticipatory bail application on 12 February before the Calcutta High Court, claiming that he had been booked for murder because of “political vendetta” and in no way had any link with Biswas’ death.