The Calcutta High Court on Monday rejected the anticipatory bail granted to a Block Development Officer named in the murder of a jewellery shop owner in October this year.

The single bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh also ordered the Rajganj BDO, Prasanta Burman, to surrender before the trial court within 72 hours in connection with the murder of Swapan Kamilya.

During the hearing the petitioner’s counsel, however, stated , “I was not arrested nor called for interrogation.” The court observed, “ From the case diary it reflects that the investigation is still in place. During the investigation, it came to the fore that an eyewitness had seen the deceased being kidnapped, assaulted and another injured eye witness had narrated the incident”.

“The opposite party (Prasanta Burman) is a mastermind and took a lead role and used his government official background wherever necessary… the material that has been collected prima facie supports the fact that the alleged opposite party had an active participatory role and that his assistants did the job. A blue beacon car was used to abduct the victim from the jewellery shop and taken to the BDO’s residence,” the court stated.

“It will be a travesty of justice, if his accomplices are in jail and he being a WBCS (West Bengal Civil Service) officer is outside with anticipatory bail. The impugned orders passed by the Session Judge lack comprehensive reasoning and relevant materials are perverse and set aside,” the court observed.

The lower court had granted anticipatory bail to Burman in November last week which was challenged by the state government in Calcutta High Court in December first week.

Body of jewellery shop owner Swapan Kamilya, 45, was found in a desolate area of New Town on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata on October 29. According to the post-mortem report, Kamilya’s body bore 32 wounds. Initially, Kamilya’s family had alleged that he had gone missing from Salt Lake Duttabadh area and filed a missing persons report. After his body was found, Kamilya’s kin lodged a police complaint and alleged that he had been abducted by BDO Prasanta Burman and some men from Salt Lake in a car fitted with a blue beacon.

The victim’s wife told the police that the BDO had allegedly come to his jewellery shop looking for Kamilya in connection with the gold stolen from his house. It was alleged that the BDO’s domestic help Ashok Kar had reportedly stolen gold from his house and sold it at Kamilya’s shop.

Kamilya used to run his small jewellery business from a rented shop in Salt Lake.

According to the police complaint, on October 28, Prasanta Burman along with a few men came in a car fitted with a blue beacon and allegedly abducted Kamilya and his landlord Gobinda Bag. Bag was let off later.

Based on the family’s complaint, a case was registered in connection with the incident at the Bidhannagar police station.