Kolkata: In a shocking incident, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Raju Jha, was shot dead by unidentified miscreants in West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district on Saturday (April 1) evening. According to the police, Jha, a Durgapur-based businessman, was on his way to Kolkata with some colleagues when he was attacked outside a confectionery shop in the Shaktigarh area.


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"In the car, there were three persons including Raju Jha. The motive of the accused is yet to be ascertained. Further investigation is underway," said Bardhaman SP Kamnasis Senas quoted by ANI. The police rushed Jha to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead. The injured persons are undergoing treatment at a hospital.



The accused fled the spot immediately after the incident, and their motive is still unclear. During the Left Front's rule, Jha was accused of operating an illegal coal business in Silpanchal. In the Trinamool government, various cases were also registered against him. He joined the BJP ahead of the last assembly elections in December 2021, in the presence of State President Dilip Ghosh.



Speaking to reporters on Sunday (April 2), BJP's West Bengal president and MP, Sukanta Majumdar, said, "It is not important which party he (the deceased) belonged to. What matters is the fact that a citizen of the state was shot dead by five people in broad daylight. Such incidents never happened in Bengal earlier. We only heard of such incidents in other states".


"The fact that such incidents are happening here shows that the law and order situation in the state has totally collapsed," Majumdar added as quoted by ANI.