A footage from a closed-circuit television has provided vital clues on the murder of a Trinamool Congress leader in Bengal’s Joynagar. The footage caught the moments before the murder and shows the suspects passing the victim, Saifuddin Laskar, who was shot dead on Monday.
The footage shows the Trinamool leader walking on the street as bike-borne men, suspected to be the murderers, pass by him.
The police say they have arrested the man who shot the Saifuddin Lashkar and claim he has confessed to the crime. The police say the CCTV footage has given them clues about the number of attackers involved. Sources say investigations have also revealed that it was a case contract killing but the police are yet to confirm the motive behind the murder.
Laskar headed the Trinamool unit in Joynagar’s Bamungachi area and his wife is a panchayat pradhan.
After his murder, a mob of supporters torched around 20 homes in retaliation. A suspect was also beaten to death. His wife, however, said the man was also a Trinamool Congress supporter.
“My husband did not work for any party. He used to vote and come back. He was not interested in working for any party,” said Zarina Laskar, widow of Shahabuddin Laskar.
Asked if the family was linked to the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress, she answered in the affirmative.
Three cases have been registered following the murder. Besides the murder case, two cases have been filed over the killing of lynching of Shahabuddin Laskar and the arson that followed the murder of the Trinamool leader.
Local Trinamool leaders have alleged the involvement of CPM supporters in the murder. Senior CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty has trashed the allegations.
The murder, he said, is a “result of internal strife within the Trinamool” and “It is no use blaming the CPM”.
This afternoon Sujan Chakraborty and other Left leaders were stopped by the police from visiting the village where homes of CPM supporters were set on fire. Other Opposition leaders were also stopped the police.
