The police in Bengal’s Birbhum district has arrested two more persons for their alleged involvement in the murder of a TMC panchayat official, taking the total number of people nabbed in the case so far to six, a senior officer said on Thursday. In the aftermath of panchayat deputy chief Bhadu Sheikh’s murder last week, violence had broken out in Bogtui village of the district, with miscreants attacking houses and setting them on fire, killing at least nine people, including children.
The two accused were picked up from Nalhati and Margram, where the duo had been hiding since March 21 when the TMC leader was killed, the police officer said. At least 10 FIRs under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) have been filed in connection with Sheikh’s murder. The Bogtui massacre that followed is being investigated by the CBI.
A team of CBI officials visited Margram during the day in search of Sheikh’s two brothers, an official of the probe agency said. They also visited a CCTV-fitted house in Bogtui village, abandoned by its inhabitants after the massacre, in search of a hard disk that apparently had footages from the cameras.
According to the official, the hard disk was “missing” even as other belongings were intact. The house had been “sealed” to prevent any further tampering of evidence, he said.
Later in the day, the team stopped by Rampurhat Medical College and Hospital and collected CCTV footages from there to find out who all had visited the medical establishment after the charred bodies of the victims and five other injured were taken there, the CBI official said. CBI sleuths also grilled a senior officer of Nalhati Police Station and two other officers of Rampurhat Police Station in connection with their probe.
No arrest has been made by the agency thus far.
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