MALDA: A Trinamool anchal sabhapati (area president), his brother and an associate were shot at by miscreants and then hit with bricks in Malda’s Kaliachak on Tuesday, resulting in the death of the aide, in a chilling reminder of the murder of party district vice-president Dulal Sarkar on Jan 2.
TMC functionary Bakul Sk, his brother Esaruddin and aide Ataur Sk (38) were on their way to a programme to inaugurate a road and drain at Salepur of Naoda-Jadupur panchayat when they were attacked around 9am. According to the FIR, the killers were Bakul’s rivals led by Jakir Sk. Both Bakul and Jakir are history-sheeters. Police said 10 people were detained for questioning and six more had been identified.
The three were first shot at from close range and then brazenly hit with bricks in front of several hundred witnesses. Not a single person dared to step forward. The killers did not bother to mask their faces and assaulted the victims repeatedly before leaving. Only after the attackers had fled were the three victims taken to Malda Medical College & Hospital. Ataur was declared brought dead; Bakul and Esaruddin are critical. A severely injured Esaruddin, before being taken to hospital, told reporters: “Jakir and his men attacked us.”
According to local and police sources, both Bakul and Jakir have criminal backgrounds. In 2016, a Special Task Force unit of the Kolkata and Malda police arrested Bakul in Jadavpur. He is implicated in at least 20 cases, including murder, extortion, kidnapping, arson and possession of illegal arms. It is learnt that there are eight arrest warrants pending against him in courts. ‘
After his release from prison in 2019, he joined Trinamool Congress despite strong protests from a section of the party. In 2023, Bakul was made anchal president by the party’s Malda district president Abdur Rahim Boxi.
Jakir, too, has around 23 criminal cases against him and was arrested by STF in 2016. After stepping out of prison on bail, he first joined Congress and then Trinamool only a few months ago.
Trinamool’s Sujapur MLA Md Abdul Ghani squarely blamed Jakir for the murder. “Bakul and his men were attacked by another faction of the party led by Jakir. They had an old rivalry,” he said.
Boxi, however, denied that Jakir was a Trinamool member, saying: “Jakir was never with our party; I have no idea when he joined Trinamool Congress. I want police to take stern action against the culprits.”
On Bakul’s criminal antecedents, Boxi said: “It is true that Bakul had some cases in the past, but of late he was living a peaceful life and was working for people there.”
