Two arrested for BJP leader's murder, police suspect old rivalry

Kolkata: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested two persons, identified as Md. Khurram and Gulab Seikh, on Tuesday morning for allegedly murdering BJP leader Manish Shukla in Titagarh on Sunday night. Five more persons have been detained for interrogation. Late on Tuesday night, CID officials detained one Nazir Khan of Titash for his suspected involvement in the case. The arrested duo was produced at the Barrackpore Court on Tuesday and was remanded to CID custody for 14 days.

While scrutinising the CCTV footage, cops spotted a person who was riding pillion, getting down near Shukla and beginning to fire that was seemingly intended to terrorise the people in the area. When the locals who were around started running for shelter, Shukla fell on the ground. Another person appeared from a tea stall from the other side of Shukla's SUV and started firing at the BJP leader. After firing at least 15 rounds, another motorcycle arrived. The assailant sat on the pillion and four persons riding two bikes fled the spot while firing in the air.

Cops suspect that before murdering Shukla, the criminals had done frequent recce. Also, the semi-automatic arms used to murder the BJP leader were bought from Bihar's Munger. However, police are yet to find out who else is connected with Shukla's murder and where are the arms.

Cops came to know that Khurram's father, Md. Ismail was murdered in 2010. During the investigation, Shukla's name cropped up as an accused in the Ismail murder case. Since then, Khurram had developed a personal enmity with the BJP leader. Khurram even tried to kill Shukla twice few years after his father's murder but failed.

As Shukla felt he was in danger, he started keeping a licensed pistol with him. Recently, after a case of fake gun licenses, which was being investigated by the Barrackpore City Police, Shukla's pistol was seized. Also, his gun license which was allegedly obtained based on forged documents from Nagaland was cancelled. Since then, he used to move around with security persons.

Local sources claimed that though Shukla was involved in several anti-social activities in the past, he slowly withdrew himself from all that owing to his younger daughter's health-related issues. However, Shukla, after joining BJP, was trying to enter the jute mill trade unions as the 2021 Assembly elections are knocking on the door.

Shukla was a student of Rashtraguru Surendranath College in Barrackpore and was nominated the general secretary of the SFI-led students' union. Later, he joined the CPI(M). But during the last leg of the Left Front regime, he joined TMC and after the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, he joined the BJP.