Basirhat: Shootout claims TMC’s winning candidate’s life

Kolkata: A shootout at dawn in Basirhat claimed the life of a winning candidate of Trinamool Congress in the Khasbalanda Gram Panchayat (GP) area.

The incident is said to have taken place within the limits of the Haroa Police Station in Basirhat.

The deceased, Sheikh Saheb Ali, was the block president of the Kisan-Khet Mazdoor cell in Haroa, besides being the winning candidate in the recently concluded rural elections from the Bihari village in Khasbalanda Gram Panchayat.

He was returning home on a bike when he was surrounded by 10 to 15 unidentified persons who fired a volley of bullets at him. Several rounds were fired, according to the locals. Ali, who was profusely bleeding, slumped to the ground on the spot.

Two bullets also hit his motorcycle. Police from Haroa Police Station reached the spot and took Ali to a nearby hospital but he was declared brought dead. His body has been taken to the police morgue at the district hospital for autopsy. The police are learnt to have launched a probe into the incident.

Locals could not shed light as to who might have killed him or whether of late he made some enemies who could have exacted revenge. As to whether it was a political killing, the police are probing all angles, it was learnt.