Boy shot dead in gang fight - Bullets claim young lives

TT, Malda, Oct. 28: A Class IX boy from Manikchak was shot dead last night when he came in the way of two armed gangs fighting over a plot of land.

A cleric from a local mosque suffered a bullet injury and he has been admitted to Malda Medical College and Hospital.

The deceased boy's father, a farmer, has filed a police complaint naming the leaders of the two gangs, Kammu Sheikh and Rashid Sheikh, and 18 others.

Sources said followers of Kammu and Rashid, both from Gumanitola village in Manikchak block, had an altercation over the control of a 10-cottah plot in the village.

Manikchak is 45km from here.

"Since yesterday morning, Kammu and Rashid, accompanied by their followers, had been fighting over the plot. Around 9pm, when Rashid, his accomplice Jahir Sheikh and some others were erecting a fence around the plot, Kammu and his men arrived at the site," a resident said.

A clash followed and both gangs hurled bombs and fired shots at each other. When the youths were fighting, Kayum Sheikh, 15, was returning home from his private tuition class. The student of a local madarsa was injured in the abdomen. Seeing the boy bleeding, the two gangs fled.

The child died on the way to the hospital.

Nur Salim, an imam at a mosque, was hit by a bullet in the waist. "I was at home when I saw the two groups clashing. As I know many of the youths, I tried to stop them. But they kept attacking each other. A bullet hit me and I fell," Nur Salim said from his hospital bed today.

The deceased child's father, Chakku Mia, alleged that although police were informed last night, they came to the village this morning. "I have filed a complaint at Manikchak police station and named Kammu, Rashid and 18 others for killing my son. The police came to our village only at 11am, many hours after the incident. Had the police arrived earlier, they could have arrested the culprits," he said.

This morning,as the police conducted raids, most male members fled the village fearing arrest.

"We have started an investigation. Policemen have been posted in the village and raids are on," Malda police chief Prasun Banerjee said. "There has been no delay on our part."