3 held for Malda TMC neta’s murder on Rs 10 lakh contract
Times of India | 4 January 2025
12 Malda: Three persons, including two from Bihar, were arrested late on Thursday for murdering Trinamool Congress English Bazar municipality councillor Dulal Sarkar on a Rs 10 lakh contract. The two killers, captured on CCTV, were arrested on a Manikchak-bound bus. A third was arrested after questioning the duo.
Later on, two others, including Sarkar's former aide, were detained and firearms used in the murder were recovered.
Md Sami Akhtar of Bihar's Katihar and Tinku Ghosh of English Bazaar, both in their twenties, were identified from the CCTV footage. They were nabbed from a public bus heading to Manikchak. It is believed that the duo planned to cross the Ganga from Manikchak to reach Rajmahal in Jharkhand. During their interrogation, police came to know about the involvement of Abdul Gani of Katihar, who was arrested by Harishchandrapur police.
They were charged with murder and criminal conspiracy along with illegal possession of firearms. All three were produced in a Malda court on Friday and sent to police custody for 14 days.
The miscreants, who sheltered in a hideout in English Bazaar, had been following Sarkar for the past few days. Police sources said the shooters were hired by a person who had a rift with Sarkar — who had recently started dealing in land and assets — over property worth crores.
Although police were reticent about the motive and the details of the accused, Krishnendu Choudhury, English Bazaar Municipality's chairperson, said, "A contract of Rs 10 lakh was given to kill Sarkar. Six persons are involved in the gang. Arms have been recovered."
Kolkata mayor and senior minister Firhad Hakim, who went to Malda on Thursday, said: "The connection to Bihar is evident in this heinous murder. The mastermind must be arrested soon."
There was a pall of gloom in the morning as Sarkar's body was taken to his house and then English Bazaar Municipality, where he was vice-chairperson for years and still a councillor. Thousands, including ministers, Malda district officials and politicians, came to pay homage to the neta.
Sarkar was a long-time aide of Mamata Banerjee in Malda when the CM was heading Youth Congress before forming Trinamool. His brutal killing prompted an angry CM to blame police negligence and question why local cops withdrew Sarkar's security in 2021 despite earlier murder attempts on him.