TMC civic body chief killed, manhunt on

Kolkata: A Trinamul Congress-ruled civic body chief was shot dead by a gang of armed miscreants at Bhadreshwar in Hooghly on Tuesday night.

The murder has triggered a blame-game between the ruling party and the BJP.

The victim, Manoj Upadhyay, was the chairman of Bhadreshwar Municipality.  

A resident of Gatebazar, he was a businessman who joined the Trinamul in 2010 and was elected as a councillor in the civic body polls in Bhadreshwar Municipality.

In 2015 Upadhyay won again from ward no 16 and became the chairman. He was known for his popularity. On Tuesday evening Upadhyay visited a local club to chat with his friends.  

At around 11 pm, he was returning home riding pillion on his aide: Chintu’s motorcycle.

Four miscreants stopped him on G.T. Road near Joy Bharat Sangha. Chintu recalled, “They were talking to Upadhyay. I however did not notice any fire-arm with them. As we started moving, they opened fire on him. Some of them were known.”  With three bullet injuries in chest and stomach Upadhyay, in his mid-forties, fell down from the two-wheeler.

He was declared brought dead at Chandannagore Hospital.

Trinamul minister and party’s Hooghly district president Tapan Dasgupta and Uttarpara Municipality chairman Dilip Yadav rushed to the spot.

Mr Dagupta said, “Manoj was an active worker. We had no idea that he had enemies.” Chandannagore police commissioner Piyush Pandey inspected the spot.

 He said, “A probe is underway. Names of two persons: Raju and Ratan with criminal background have come to light.

The motive behind the murder is not clear.”

The cops found that the assailants were hired to eliminate Upadhyay. One person, Munna Rai, was arrested while five others were detained. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamul MP Abhishek Banerjee visited Upadhyay’s family.  

He said, “I can assure you that the accused will be arrested within 48 hours.”

The Trinamul pointed fingers at the BJP for the murder.

Urban development minister Firhad Hakim said, “The police will look into the case. Let the probe reveal the truth about whose interest was involved in it.”

He claimed, “The way the BJP killed Mahatma Gandhi, they have thought they would succeed by eliminating those who have joined hands with the chief minister in her development.” Trinamul MLA Arjun Singh alleged that Upadhyay was under threat for his role in development works.

The BJP however blamed the Trinamul for the murder.  State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, “Upadhyay is an old RSS functionery. We were known to each other. He was a good administrator. There was a possibility of him returning to the BJP to prevent which he was killed.

“It may be that the entire municipality would have come under the BJP’s rule.”

He wondered, “I suspect that he was killed because others in the Trinamul could not pocket money due to him. The Trinamul can not protect its chairman even. Do they
have the right to blame any opposition party?”