West Bengal: BJP leader Manish Shukla shot dead; party calls for 12-hour bandh in Barrackpore

BJP leader Manish Shukla was shot dead on Sunday (October 4) evening, when he was speaking with some locals and party workers near Titagarh police station. Manish Shukla was admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata in critical condition. Later, doctors declared him dead. The BJP called for a 12-hour bandh (shutdown) in the Barrackpore area on Monday (October 5) in protest of the brutal killing.  

Kolkata: A 28-year-old Barrackpore BJP leader Manish Shukla was shot dead on Sunday (October 4) evening, when he was speaking with some locals and party workers near a local police station. Manish Shukla was admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata in critical condition.

The BJP leader was reportedly shot in the head, chest, and back, in front of the BJP party office at Titagarh in North 24 Parganas. He was later declared dead by hospital authorities.

According to sources, BJP leader Manish Shukla was shot multiple times. He was first shifted to Barrackpore BN Bose Hospital and then to a private hospital in Bypass.

The BJP has called for a 12-hour bandh (shutdown) in the Barrackpore area on Monday (October 5), blaming the ruling Trinamool Congress for the killing.

The Trinamool Congress has denied the charge and blamed the incident on an internal feud within the BJP.

According to eyewitness accounts, several men on motorcycles suddenly drove up to Manish Shukla, a member of the BJP's Barrackpore organisational district committee and a former councilor and riddled him with bullets.

A huge team of cops rushed to quell the tensions that erupted with the BJP supporters heckling Barrackpore police commissioner Manoj Verma and additional commissioner Ajay Thakur and demanded the immediate arrest of the accused.

BJP district president Umashankar Singh has expressed grief over the incident. Manish Shukla was a member of the Divisional User Consultative Committee from January 2020. He was also in charge of the welfare of the citizens at the Railway Board's Barrackpore. The district BJP has called for a 12-hour shutdown in Barrackpore on Monday (October 5) in protest of the brutal killing of BJP district committee member Manish Shukla in front of Titagarh police station. Residents of Titagarh blocked BT Road in protest of the incident. Combat forces were deployed to deal with the tension.