Purulia, April 6 : A 12-hour Jhalda shutdown, called by the Congress party to protest the alleged police highhandedness and attack on its newly elected Councillor Purnima Kandu, the widow of recently slain Congress Councillor Tapan Kandu, was being observed on Wednesday. The Jhalda town looked deserted as the vehicles were off the roads and the traders were not seen opening their shutters so far as the shutdown began at 6 am. Purnima Kandu, along with her followers, mostly women, was seen taking to the streets early in the day and squatting on the road at Anandabazar area of the town to enforce the shutdown. Elsewhere in the Jhalda town, some 300 kms northeast of Kolkata, the Congress activists were seen taking out rallies in support of the bandh and shouted slogans protesting the alleged attack on their Jhalda M cipal Councillor Purnima Kandu. They also demanded exemplary p shment to the killers of Tapan Kandu, who was shot dead on March 13 while on an evening stroll with his wife. Purnima Kandu has alleged that her husband was murdered with the nexus of the local policemen, headed by Jhalda IC, which is now being investigated by the CBI following a Calcutta High Court order on Monday. The Congress on Wednesday alleged the attack on Purnia Kandu on Tuesday was orchestrated with the help of police when she was protesting the formation of Jhalda M cipality board by the Trinamool Congress. The civic poll for the 12-seat Jhalda m cipality returned hung in the last month poll with 5 each of TMC and Congress and two independents. Sources said Tapan Kandu, a four-time Councillor, was shot dead at a time when he was negotiating with an independent councillor to form a Congress-led board. Meanwhile, mystery surrounded on Wednesday morning in Jhalda town with the discovery of Niranjan Bhaisnab’s body, who allegedly committed suicide by hanging in his house, official sources said. He was close to slain Congress leader Tapan Kandu. Even he was with Tapan Kandu when the leader was shot dead. A handwritten chit was found at the site of his body, where he reportedly mentioned the pressure on him, and repeated summons by the local police station forced him to end his life. PC SJC BM