Kolkata, Oct 5 (IANS): Municipal Affairs Minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim on Monday termed the killing of Manish Shukla, BJP leader in Titagarh, as quite 'unfortunate'.

"We believe in Gandhian philosophy. Our party supremo Mamata Banerjee does not believe in political violence. We have seen such violence during the 34-year-long Left regime in Bengal," Hakim told mediapersons here.

Hakim also claimed that Shukla had to join the BJP under severe pressure from Barrackpore BJP MP Arjun Singh.

"Manish Shukla was with me even during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. We held several meetings jointly in support of Dinesh Trivedi, Trinamool Congress' candidate in Barrackpore," Hakim said.

He also said that Shukla was not happy with the BJP.

"Why his security cover was removed at the time of firing? Why was Arjun Singh asked to come to Kolkata at the time when the killing took place," asked Hakim, while claiming that the weapon used in the murder was procured from outside.

Meanwhile, the preliminary post-mortem report said that three bullets were recovered from Shukla's head. The experts also found several injury marks on the victim's body.

The police have collected various CCTV footages from the area to identify the assailants.