Liaqat Sheikh followed a simple morning routine. Every day, he would wake up early and walk to the tea shop located just 20 metres from his house at Gangadhari village in Nowda block of Murshidabad district, West Bengal. On the morning of July 8, Liaqat, 62, sat on a bench at the shop in peace, sipping his milky tea from an earthen cup.
Suddenly, a group of men appeared, their faces covered. They threw a series of crude bombs on the road. People screamed and ran helter-skelter. As Liaqat rushed towards his house, a crude bomb came hurtling towards him. Once the smoke dissipated, Ainul Sheikh ran to check on his older brother. Liaqat Sheikh was dead. It was 6.43 a.m., exactly 17 minutes before polling began for the West Bengal panchayat elections.
