Former CPM MLA Dilip Sarkar shot dead in Burnpur

KOLKATA: Former CPM MLA Dilip Sarkar was gunned down on Sunday morning in Burdwan district’s Burnpur by four motorcycle-borne assailants, police commissioner (Asansol-Durgapur) Ajay Nand said. The critically injured leader died on way to the hospital.

Sarkar, 64, represented the Barabani assembly constituency and was a secretariat member of the party’s district committee. CPM alleged the ruling Trinamool was behind the killing and called for a 12-hour shutdown in Asansol on Monday.

“The Trinamool has created a reign of terror across the state and the murder of our leader is only a part of the terrorism carried out by the ruling party,” CPM district committee secretary Amol Haldar alleged. Trinamool rubbished the allegations and attributed the murder to factional feud in CPM. “It is a result of CPM’s intra-party feud,” said agriculture minister Moloy Ghatak.

Sarkar’s murder has stunned political circles. Polit Bureau member and CPM state secretary Biman Bose told reporters on Sunday evening that 95 CPM leaders and workers were killed in the state after Trinamool Congress assumed power in May 2011. 13 of these leaders hailed from Burdwan. No arrest has been made.

With panchayat elections due next month, the murder is likely to hit the law and order situation in Burdwan. Last year, another former CPM MLA, Pradip Tah, too was murdered in Burdwan district.