Lawyer murder suspect arrested

TT, Jalpaiguri, Dec. 3: The district police today arrested Jyotish Pramanik, the suspected killer of a lawyer who was murdered in his Station Road flat last month, from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh.

"Our officers were investigating the case and they came to know that Jyotish Pramanik, who had killed Kishore Chanda, is in Uttar Pradesh. We immediately formed a team and sent it there. Today, Pramanik was arrested from Baghpat. He would be brought here on transit remand on Saturday," Akash Magharia, the superintendent of police, Jalpaiguri, said.

"We will interrogate him to find out the motive behind the lawyer's murder," he added.

On November 23, Chanda who used to stay alone in his flat here, was found dead. It was suspected that the killer had slit his throat with a dagger.

At least three persons, a law clerk working under Chanda, Vivek Dey Sarkar, driver Tarapada Roy and the owner of a shop on Station Road, had seen the assailant as he walked out of Chanda's building with blood spots on his clothes.

"The murder was the fallout of a land dispute. We got several details about him (Pramanik) and with the help of those who had seen him, we could make a sketch of the person," a police source said.

"We circulated the sketch and obtained information about the person's whereabouts," he added.

Pramanik, sources said, is a resident of Gandhi Maidan area on the outskirts of Siliguri under Bhaktinagara police station.

Last week, the law clerk and the driver of the slain lawyer had deposed before a judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC.

Chanda, 45, a criminal lawyer, used to practise in the courts in Jalpaiguri.

After Chanda's death, the state Bar council called a cease-work across Bengal demanding the arrest of the culprits and protection of advocates.

The deceased lawyer was the vice-president of Jalpaiguri district legal cell of Trinamul.

Chanda's wife Dola and daughter Srija stay in a flat in Hakimpara, Siliguri, 45km from here.