Four more persons, including a purported leader of the CPI(M), were arrested on Thursday in connection with the murder of a Trinamool Congress panchayat member in the Joynagar area of West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, police said.
Saifuddin Laskar, also the husband of the local panchayat pradhan and the TMC’s area president, was shot dead allegedly by some motorcycle-borne people early Monday morning when he was on his way to a local mosque at Bamangachi village.
Among the four arrested are Anisur Laskar, whom the police claimed is a CPI(M) leader, and Kamaluddin. The police earlier arrested one Saharul in connection with the murder.
Anisur, a Daluakhaki resident who was named as an accused in the murder case, was nabbed by the special operation group of the Baruipur police district from Nadia’s Ranaghat area, officials said.
He was absconding since the murder.
“Anisur Laskar and Kamaluddin have confessed to their crime. We are further investigating the case. Searches were being conducted in Ranaghat, Haringhata in Nadia district for the last few days for the accused,” a senior police official said.
Saifuddin Laskar’s killing triggered violence in the area on Monday, with a mob lynching a murder suspect, Sahabuddin Laskar, before setting on fire the houses of 16 CPI(M) workers and supporters, including that of Anisur.
The CPI(M), however, claimed that Anisur doesn’t hold any position in the party as a leader or member and could just be a supporter.
CPI(M) Central Committee member and senior leader Sujan Chakraborty said, “I want to know where are the five bike-borne assailants who were captured in CCTV footage? I have never heard someone named Anisur is our party leader. Maybe he is a supporter but that anyone can be. First police saying he is our leader, then we heard police saying he is our worker It is evident that police are making all effort to link CPI(M) party supporters.”
TMC chief spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “The law will take its own course. The CPI(M) is the originator of the culture of violence in Bengal. They can’t try to act like saints all of a sudden. It is evident from the arrest that they are still into the politics of violence.”
The police had claimed that it was the handiwork of contract killers who were paid to kill the “influential leader”.