4 BJP men held for murder on last day of nomination

arrested four persons in connection with the death of Dildar Khan, who was killed in Suri of Bengal’s Birbhum district by gunshots on April 23, the last day of submission of nomination papers in the Bengal rural polls.

The four arrested are Babul Sheikh, Sheikh Saiful, Goutam Kora and Asit Halder. They were arrested on Tuesday night and produced in Suri court on Wednesday. The court sent them to police custody for seven days.

They were booked under IPC sections 302 (murder), 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 149 ( unlawful assembly ), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) as well as sections 25, 28 and 35 of Arms Act.

“The four were arrested on the basis of a complaint (filed by Tahid Khan, the victim’s father) and investigation. We will interrogate them further in our custody. Others will also be arrested,” said N Sudheer Kumar, district police superintendent of Birbhum.

Ramkrishna Roy, the president of BJP in Birbhum district, claimed that the four arrested are supporters of BJP. The death of Dildar Khan, who was in his midthirties, triggered a war of words between the leaders of ruling Trinamool Congress and of the BJP.

On Monday, BJP state present Dilip Ghosh and former MLA Samik Bhattacharya said Khan was a party worker for the past few years. But TMC leaders such as urban development minister Firhad Hakim and Birbhum district chief Anubrata Mondal claimed he was their supporter.

The father of the deceased initially told the media that ruling party workers shot his son dead in front of his eyes. He also alleged the panchayat pradhan from TMC, Prabir Dhar, had a role. Within 90 minutes, he appeared at a press conference and said in the presence of Mondal that his son was a TMC worker.

“Dildar was our man and he was killed by TMC-backed goons. But we are surprised police arrested our supporters,” said BJP’s Ramkrishna Roy. The party claimed Dildar was its minority unit’s district president.

Seven people were killed during the nomination phase.

KOLKATA:Police DILDAR KHAN’S DEATH TRIGGERED A WAR OF WORDS BETWEEN TMC AND BJP, EACH CLAIMING HE BELONGED TO THEM