Three Trinamool Congress activists were shot dead by South 24-Parganas district on Thursday evening when gunmen attacked the vehicle of a party MLA, police said.
Motorbike borne assailants attacked the three persons when they, including the driver, were in a petrol pump at Joynagar shortly after Biswanath Das, the MLA, disembarked from the vehicle at a party office nearby.
The police started an investigation into the killing detained a few people for questioning.
Das alleged that CPI(M) goons were behind the incident, but the left party leader Sujan Chakraborty claimed that the shootout was the result of internal feud of the ruling Trinamool Congress.