The incident occurred near Khakurda when Trinamool Congress' Nayagram block president Ujwal Dutta was returning from Contai late last night.
The police said a group of miscreants were looting vehicles on Egra-Belda road and Dutta's car was also attacked.
His security guard Deepak Chhetri fired and one of the miscreants, identified as Chhapu Nayak, died on the spot.
Other miscreants fled from the scene after that.