Two persons were injured during a shootout at Bankra gram panchayat office, hardly eight to 10km away from the state secretariat Nabanna, on Thursday afternoon, just 17 days ahead of the Lok Sabha election in Howrah constituency.
Howrah will go for polls on 20 May. Trouble started around 1.30pm when three miscreants, armed with revolvers, suddenly entered into the office of the Trinamul Congress-ruled gram panchayat (number III) in the Bankra area and fired while looking for the panchayat pradhan Tuktuki Sheikh.
Window glasses were found broken with bullets fired by the miscreants, locals said.
Employees in the panchayat office and local residents panicked with the sudden attack. They tried to flee the spot. Two of them sustained injuries and they were taken to a nearby hospital later.
“Three armed youths suddenly entered the office when I was working and they were looking for me. They started firing indiscriminately and all of us got scared. I took shelter under the table to save myself. But my father and uncle have sustained bullet injuries,” Mrs Sheikh told the media after the incident.
“The miscreants are close to a former member of our gram panchayat. I have briefed everything to the police. They are investigating the case and let’s see what steps they take,” she said.
Police officials have rushed to the spot and are verifying the CCTV footage to identify the attackers.
Locals said that the incident was a sequel to the intra-party feud in Trinamul Congress in the area.