Kolkata: Expressing "deep shock" and "profound grief" at the death of Tuhin Samanta, who was shot dead on Sunday, allegedly by a police officer at Katwa in Burdwan district, West Bengal, Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi hoped that exemplary action would be taken against the guilty.

Mr. Samanta, a lecturer at the Kandi Law College in Murshidabad district and a Congress activist, was reportedly shot dead after trouble broke out at the local school over its managing committee elections.

"As Chancellor of the University of Kalyani, with which the college that your late husband was associated, is affiliated, I express my deepest condolences to you with a sense of anguish and remorse," Mr. Gandhi's message, conveyed to the victim's wife Nisha Samanta said, according to a Raj Bhavan press release issued here on Tuesday.

The condolence message was conveyed to Ms. Nisha Samanta from Darjeeling where Mr. Gandhi is on an official visit.

The message acknowledged that action against those responsible for Mr. Samanta's death or compensation to the family were not going to console her and that the loss was "indeed beyond consoling."

"However, I do hope that exemplary action will be taken against the guilty and I note that such action is already underway," the message said.

A criminal case has been initiated against the police officer, who has been confined to the Burdwan Police Lines.

Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy said the officer-in-charge will be arrested and that the Criminal Investigation Department is inquiring into the incident.

The 24-hour-bandh called by the Congress in Katwa on Tuesday, in protest against the incident, passed peacefully.

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