‘Threat letters:’ Two in Siliguri cops’ net

SNS| Siliguri | February 22, 2018: Police arrested two persons in Siliguri on Thursday for their alleged connection in sending ‘threat letters’ to four political leaders in the town, demanding Rs 5 lakh. The duo will be produced in the Siliguri court on Friday, police officials said.

The duo has been identified as Ditman Burman and Govind Burman, residents of Cooch Behar district. The printer and the computer used to type and print the letters were recovered from the rented house of Ditman at Bagajatin Park in Siliguri, police officials said.

“The police recovered printers and computer set from Mr Barman’s rented house .The duo has admitted to the crime and said that they have written more letters, which will be received by other politicians in Siliguri,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Zone- II, Tarun Haldar, said.

Briefing on the two bank account numbers mentioned in the letter that said the account holder was one Surendra Kumar, Mr Halder said, “The duo claimed that they had taken Rs 46 lakh from Mr Kumar for registration of a plot of land and in a bid to avoid him, Mr Kumar’s name was used in the letter.” “We are investigating to see if they are some more persons involved in the case,” he added.

Siliguri MLA and Mayor Asok Bhattacharya, Matigara- Naxalbari MLA and Darjeeling district Congress (Plains) president Sankar Malakar, president of the Siliguri Organisational District of the BJP Pravin Agarwal, and Trinamul Congress leader and former MLA Dr Rudranath Bhattacharya have so far received the same letter between last Saturday and Monday.

The name of the sender written on the envelope is Rakesh Kumar of Pradhan Nagar. The letters threaten to harm or kill family members of the leaders if the money was not transferred within two days of the receipt of the letter.

The leaders have also been warned against going to the police. Two bank account numbers have been given–one nationalised bank and another private bank-where the recipients have been asked to transfer the money.