On Camera, Murder Attempt Goes Wrong, Trinamool Leader Chases Shooter

A Trinamool councillor survived a murder attempt as the shooter's gun malfunctioned in Kolkata's Kasba area last night. Dramatic visuals of the murder attempt were caught on the CCTV camera installed in front of the Trinamool leader's house.

Sushanta Ghosh, councillor of Ward 108 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, was sitting in front of his house when the two shooters arrived on a scooter. One of them took out his gun and tried to shoot him twice. But the gun didn't work. No bullets were released.

Sensing that the shooter was in a spot, Mr Ghosh charged at him. He tried to escape on his associate's scooter, but slipped and an on-foot chase ensued. He was eventually caught and thrashed, before being asked to confess on camera who had hired him.

"I was not given any money. I was just given a photo and asked to murder him," he was heard saying in another video as a crowd surrounded him. He was later handed over to the police.

The shooters were hired from Bihar to kill the councillor, said police sources, suspecting local rivalries as the motive behind the attack.

The councillor later said he had no clue who could have planned his murder. "I have been a councillor for 12 years and never thought that I could be attacked; that too while I am sitting in my area," he said.

Local MP Mala Roy and MLA Javed Khan later visited him.