According to the police, Bhola Banik, a resident of Subhashnagar, had hired out his vehicle to district police authorities recently. He was close to some senior district police officers and provided some information to them.

Bhola had earlier told his wife that some unidentified men had threatened him for keeping contact with the police. At around 3 am, some unidentified criminals stormed into his house and broke down the door of his bedroom. They fired three bullets at him in front of his wife Annapurna Banik and then fled from the house. Locals rushed to the house after Annapurna shouted for help.

Bhola was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. Police officers rushed to the spot after being informed about the incident. The body was later sent to Serampore Walsh Hospital for postmortem.

The murderers are suspected to be the associates of notorious criminal, Ramesh Mahato, who was arrested in connection with the murder of Dr Sushil Pal in 2004, said a senior police officer. Annapurna Banik couldn’t identify the murderers.

Subhashnagar is known to be the base of a crime syndicate operating in the industrial area of the district, said a senior district officer.