The Pune district unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday called for a shutdown of the Maval Taluk following the murder of a local BJP leader.

Sachin Shelke, a former corporator and president of the party’s Talegaon-Dabhade area, was first shot at and later brutally assaulted by a gang in the morning near a petrol pump in Talegaon. The assailants dispersed after gruesomely doing Shelke to death.

Shelke was immediately rushed to the multi-speciality Pawana Hospital in Talegaon where he was declared dead on arrival.

Political rivalry or wrangling over land was speculated to be a prime motive in the murder, said the Talegaon police, who are investigating the case.

In April 2013, Shelke had narrowly escaped from a murderous attack after being assaulted by sharp weapons in his Talegaon office what appeared to be a case of extortion by a gang. His father and brothers, too, were injured at the time.