WB: TMC Councillor Shot Dead, BJP Stages Walkout From Assembly in Protest

Tapan Kandu, a Congress councillor, was earlier shot dead in Jhalda in West Bengal's Purulia district.

Crime scene.

(File Photo: IANS)

Anupam Dutta, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) councillor, was shot dead in West Bengal's Panihati municipality on Sunday, 13 March, NDTV reported.

Dutta was rushed to the hospital with severe head injuries, but was declared brought dead by doctors. The incident was caught on camera and the alleged killer, Shambhunath Pandit, was arrested based on the video footage.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs protested against the incident in the state Legislative Assembly on Monday.

The incident occurred in Agarpara's North Station Road, according to the police.

Dutta was the councillor for Ward number eight in Panihati municipality of the state's North 24 Parganas district.

Manoj Kumar Varma, Commissioner of Police, Barrackpore, said that Dutta was being interrogated, and that more arrests are likely to follow.

According to police reports, Pandit had been hired as a contract killer to assassinate Dutta.

On the same day, Tapan Kandu, a Congress councillor, was shot dead in Jhalda in West Bengal's Purulia district.

Kandu was killed allegedly by three men on a motorcycle while he was out for a walk near his residence.

BJP MLAs Stage Walkout to Protest Against Killings

BJP MLAs on Monday staged a walkout from the West Bengal Legislative Assembly to protest against the killings of the two leaders, ANI reported.

"TMC is inclining towards the Congress-ruled time period of 1972-77. If a public representative gets killed in such a manner, what will happen to the common man? Central government should also take cognizance. We will try to raise this issue in Lok Sabha," Sukanta Majumdar, the state's BJP President, told ANI.

BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul also expressed concern about the two incidents, saying, "Law & order situation is extremely bad here."

(With inputs from ANI, NDTV.)