Kolkata, March 23 (IANS): A local CPI-M leader was brutally killed in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, police said on Thursday. The CPI-M blamed the ruling Trinamool Congress for the crime.

Salauddin Haldar, a Communist Party of India-Marxist leader, was first shot in front of his house in Mathurapur on Wednesday evening and then repeatedly stabbed to death with a sharp weapon, a police officer said.

The CPI-M alleged that Haldar was killed by Trinamool Congress-backed goons and accused the police of inaction when he received "death threats".

"Haldar was killed by Trinamool-backed goons. He was given death threats by local Trinamool leaders. When he went to the police, they refused to accept his complaint and instead threatened to arrest him in a false case," CPI-M General Secretary Surya Kanta Misra said on Thursday.

Police denied the allegation, saying they have no record of Haldar approaching them.

"We are not aware he came to lodge a complaint. We are looking for the miscreants," the officer added.