Accused in TMC MLA’S killing held

KRISHNAGAR: The prime accused in the Trinamool Congress MLA Satyajit Biswas murder case was arrested from West Midnapore district Monday, police said.

Abhijit Pundari was picked up from Radhamohanpur railway station, Superintendent of Police of Nadia district Rupesh Kumar said.

Biswas, the MLA of Krishnaganj, was shot in the evening of February 9 inside a Saraswati puja marquee at Phoolbari village in Nadia district, about 15 kilometres from the Bangladesh border. He was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him “brought dead”.

With the arrest of Pundari, a total of five persons have been into custody in the case.

Police arrested Sujit Mondal and Kartik Mondal on the night of the murder. Kalipada Mondal and Nirmal Ghosh were picked up from Hanskhali and Chakdaha areas of Nadia, respectively, on February 14.

BJP leader Mukul Roy was among those booked in connection with the killing of the MLA.

The Calcutta high court had on February 13 directed the West Bengal police to not arrest Roy, who had quit the Trinamool Congress to join the BJP, till March 7 in connection with the case.

Apart from being TMC’S youth wing chief for Nadia district, Biswas was also in-charge of the party’s organisation for the dalit refugee Matua community, who forma sizeable part of the district’s population. BJP and TMC are both vying for the dalit refugee votes in Bengal.

During election rallies in Bengal, senior BJP leaders have alleged that about 70-80 lives were lost in political violence in Bengal since April 2018 when nominations for the panchayat polls started.

This is the first incident of an MLA’S murder since Mamata Banerjee became the chief minister in 2011, even though another TMC MLA from South 24-Parganas district had a close shave in December when three persons were killed during an attack on his vehicle.