Political violence continued unabated in different districts of the state on Sunday, with a CPM zila parishad member and zonal committee member being stabbed to death in Canning, South 24-Parganas. This led to a clash between Trinamool Congress and CPM supporters.

In a separate incident, a Trinamool Congress and a Congress supporter were also killed, following which Trinamool Congress supporters put up roadblocks and torched vehicles. Clashes also broke out at Mongolkot in Burdwan.

“The body of the CPM leader, Musharaf Khan, has been sent for postmortem and an investigation will soon be initiated,” said L N Meena, police superintendent of North 24-Parganas.

“We have deployed a huge contingent of policemen in the area, including RAF. The area is under control,” added Meena.

According to the police, the incident occurred when Kha had gone out for a morning walk near his house in Amra Road. A group of miscreants riding a motorbike approached him and stabbed him several times. He died on the spot. As news of his death spread, sporadic clashes broke out between Trinamool and CPM supporters in different parts of Canning. Both the groups hurled crude bombs and exchanged fire. Clashes also took place in Kulpi, Mandirbazar, Mullickpur and other areas where panchayat by-elections took place today.

The CPM alleged that the murder was the handiwork of Trinamool Congress whereas Trinamool pointed out that Kha died due to party infighting. In Habra, miscreants opened fire at a blood donation camp, which was being organised at the Yuba Sanskriti Club in Prafullanagar.

Bapi Choudhury, a local Congress leader and Ranjit Roy, a Trinamool supporter, were critically injured along with two others.

Following the incident, Congress workers set ablaze two ambulances, three lorries and half-a-dozen police jeeps in the area. Blockades were put up in different areas in North 24-Parganas, including Barasat and Habra. Congress has called a 12-hour bandh in Habra in protest against the violence.

Partho Chatterjee, Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, visited Habra and called for Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s resignation.

“The state government has failed to maintain law and order. The CPM is rampantly killing our leaders and supporters in a pre-planned manner,” said Chatterjee.