Kolkata: A Trinamul Congress councillor’s husband and his aide were gunned down while three others were shot at by a gang of armed people inside a Trinamul party office in Kharagpur of West Midnapore in broad daylight. The victims are identified as Srinivas Naidu alias Srinu (27) and V. Dharma Rao (25).
Srinu, who had criminal records, was the husband of Trinamul Congress councillor from ward no. 18, Puja Naidu, of the Kharagpur municipality. From a trusted lieutenant of a notorious miscreant, Ram Babu in Kharagpur, he allegedly became a so-called don, overnight, by controlling the network of theft of railway parts apart from his role in various other crimes.
In 2015, his wife won the municipal polls as a BJP candidate but later switched to the Trinamul. On Wednesday morning, Srinu returned to Kharagpur from Kolkata. He, along with his aides, was at his wife’s office at Giri Maidan, Nayakhuli, when around 2.45pm five people, with their faces covered, came in a white Maruti van bearing no number plate.
While storming the office, they hurled bombs. Before Srinu and his aides could go for cover, the accused opened fire on them from point blank range, and fled in their car. The bodies have been be sent for post-mortem. Trinamul MP Subrata Bakshi said, “The police is investigating if the assailants were hired or they belonged to any opposition party.”
Pointing finger on state BJP chief and Kharagpur MLA Dilip Ghosh, Mr Bakshi said, “The person who has won as the MLA in Kharagpur is flexing muscle. The police has also been asked to look into his role.” Meanwhile, a case has been lodged under a murder charge.
Srinu, Dharma and three others suffered critical injuries. The injured were rushed to Kharagpur Hospital. Srinu and Dharma were later shifted to Apollo Gleneagles Hospital after their condition worsened.
Hospital director (emergency) Arijit Bose said, “Srinu and Dharma suffered bullet injuries on head and chest. They were declared brought dead around 6.15pm.
