In March 2021, mobile phones were stolen from the house of one Rahul Gupta in ward no.8 of Ariadaha. Although no police complaint was registered, people thrashed a man on the suspicion of theft at the Ariadaha Taltala Sporting Club.
Alok Rajoria, Commissioner of Police, Barrackpore, said the police had come across a video—widely circulated on social media—in which a few people beat a man mercilessly. “The Barrackpore police registered a suo motu case against eight people who have been named and unknown others. We have arrested six people in the case. Out of these six people, three had already been arrested in connection with an incident from July 1,” he said at a press conference.
“We will ask for the police custody of the three people—Saikat Manna, Sudip Manna and Jayant Singh. We will take them into custody for further investigation,” he added.
Abhishek Barman, Subhas Bera and Suman De are the other three people of the eight booked after being identified from the video from the club.
In the video, aides of Jayant Singh are seen holding a person by their hands and legs while others beat them with sticks. One of the assailants is heard ordering that the victim be hit on his back even as the person screams in pain.
In another case, related to a video from 2015, a man named Tanmoy Dhar alias Bappa was arrested. “No matter whether the video is old or new, legal action will be taken,” Alok Rajoria said.
In yet another video, Jayanta Singh is partially seen giving instructions on using arms. The most gruesome among the videos is one where a minor was tortured in his private parts with a tong while lying on the floor inside a club.
Though this video has not been verified by The Indian Express, a few locals identified the man torturing the minor as Prosenjit Das alias Laltu, who they said is a close associate of Jayanta Singh.
When The Indian Express reached his home on Tuesday, Laltu’s elderly father said, “My son doesn’t stay with us any more ever since he got married. He is close to Jayant Singh, but we don’t know what he has done.”
“There are two other videos that have come to our notice. We have registered suo motu cases in connection with both of them. The perpetrators in those videos have been identified and we are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that those people are arrested as soon as possible,” said Rajoria.
The cases have been registered under BNS sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).
The police said Jayant Singh could not be seen in the last two videos, adding that action would be taken if his involvement was found in the incidents during further investigations.
Jayant Singh has at least 9 FIRs registered against him in the Belgharia and Dakshineswar police stations on charges including murder, attempt to murder and causing grievous hurt.
In June last year, Jayant Singh was arrested along with 9-10 people for allegedly firing shots at a man in Ariadaha, identified as Aritra Ghosh.
“Jayant Singh is involved in all kinds of criminal activities possible. They attacked me and I received a bullet injury last year. Those who were arrested in that case included Rahul Gupta. I could easily identify that one of the assailants in this new viral video is Rahul Gupta,” he told The Indian Express.
The police appealed to people to refrain from sharing information before verifying it.