Four held for TMC leader’s murder

SURI: Birbhum district police on Sunday arrested four members of an inter-state gang in connection with the murder of former TMC leader Ashok Mukherjee.Police said those four hired killers were given “supari” by Dipak Ghosh, brother of another slain TMC leader Ashok Ghosh, to kill Mukherjee.Dipak is absconding. The killers were arrested from various places in West Bengal and neighbouring states. Dilip Kumar was arrested from Patna in Bihar, Seikh Baharuddin from Dhanbad in Jharkhand, Anuj Show from Durgapur in Birbhum and Bablu Sharma from Saithia in Birbhum. Sources in the police said that they came to know about the hired killers after arresting some local accused persons. Mukherjee, former president of Khayrasole block of Trinamool Congress, was shot by unidentified persons Panchra village near his house on August 16, this year. Eyewitnesses said around four people came on two motorcycles and shot him from point-blank range.Ashok Ghosh was also shot by hired killers on August 12 last year. Then, the family members of Ashok Ghosh had lodged a complaint against Mukherjee and he was mentioned as the main accused in the murder.Mukherjee was as a close aide of Birbhum Trinamool strongman Anubrata Mondal. Birbhum police superintendent Alok Rajoria said, “The four killers were given Rs 5 lakh as ‘supari’ by Dipak to kill Ashok Mukherjee.”