Birbhum killings: Cops arrest TMC block president: CM announces compensation

Anarul Hossain was held barely two hours after CM instructed police to go after him; Didi announces Rs 5 lakh to family of those killed, Rs 1 lakh for those with 60 per cent and above burns

The incident is suspected to have been triggered by the killing of a local TMC leader on Monday evening: File Picture

Arnab Ganguly   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |   24.03.22  : The Birbhum Police on Thursday arrested Anarul Hossain, the block president of the Trinamul Congress for the Rampurhat carnage, barely couple of hours after chief minister Mamata Banerjee instructed the police to go after the Trinamul functionary.

“Either Anarul has to surrender, or he must be arrested from wherever he is hiding,” Mamata told the waiting police posse at Bagtui village.

Just over two hours later, Anarul was picked up from the Hindu pilgrim spot Tarapith in the same district, less than nine kms from Rampurhat, and took him to the local police station for interrogation. Once a Congress worker, a construction hand, Anarul had a quick rise in politics since moving to the Trinamul camp.

Before Anarul, in 2013 the chief minister had demanded the police arrest a former Trinamul councillor Shambhunath Kau, now in jail, for his involvement in the death of a fellow party worker over a disputed cowshed in Mathpukur area in the eastern fringes of Calcutta. 

That was not all.  

“The inspector-in-charge did not perform his duty, nor did the district intelligence too did not perform its duty. Those who did not deploy the police personnel properly, I want them to get severe punishment,” Mamata was caught on camera saying these words during her visit to Bagtui village of Rampurhat in Birbhum. “I have heard in a previous case, the murder case three four years ago, the high court granted bail. Look at the Suchpur case. The case must be prepared accordingly.”

Soon after the arrest of Anarul, the inspector-in-charge of Rampurhat police station Tridip Pramanik was suspended for “his gross misconduct and dereliction of duty unbecoming of a member of a disciplined police force.”

The chief minister’s choice of words gave the opposition more cannon fodder for the day in the biggest political crime since the Trinamul came to power 11 years ago.

The chief minister’s much-flaunted visit to the trouble spot, where a Trinamul panchayat functionaries murder on Monday evening had sparked a brutal retaliation that included murder and arson, which did not spare women and children, was surfeit with promises for the living who lost their kins or had sustained injuries.

The compensation package includes Rs.5 lakh to the family of those killed, Rs. 1 lakh for those with 60 per cent and above burns, Rs. 1 lakh to Rs.2 lakh for reconstruction of the damaged homes, Rs.50,000 to three children injured in the arson, government job under the chief minister’s quota to the next of kin with a monthly pay packet of Rs. 10,000 and within a year empanelment as group D-staff.

“This was pre-rehearsed drama staged by the chief minister,” said Mohammad Salim, CPM state secretary who went to Bagtui on Wednesday. “She is not running an administration, she is running a khap panchayat. She went there to disburse cheques and silence the voice those crying for justice. She instructed the police how they should prepare the case.”

The leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari also questioned the chief minister’s intent behind instructing the police. “Without any investigation, the chief minister instructed the police to prepare the case in a way that bail is not granted for years. Now can we expect an impartial probe, or will evidence be planted? Is it a conspiracy to shield the actual culprits?” tweeted Suvendu.

 The Calcutta High court on Thursday reserved order in a suo motu petition, along with a bunch of PILs seeking a probe by CBI or NIA, in the death of eight people in West Bengal's Birbhum district.

The state opposed the prayer for CBI or NIA probe submitting that an investigation is being conducted by an SIT formed by the West Bengal government and it be given time to proceed with it. 

Following the conclusion of submissions by all parties over two days, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice R Bharadwaj said it will consider the arguments and pass the order.

Additional Solicitor General YJ Dastur submitted that the CBI or the NIA are ready to initiate a probe if an order is passed by the high court to that effect.

He informed the court that a seven-member team from Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Delhi, will reach Kolkata in the evening of Thursday and proceed to Bogtui village in Birbhum district for collection of samples from the crime scene as ordered by the bench earlier.

They will be provided with security by CRPF personnel, Dastur said. Advocate General SN Mookherjee placed the case diaries of the criminal case lodged in connection with the matter along with a report on the investigation being carried out, as directed by the court.

The advocate general opposed prayers by petitioners for transfer of the case to CBI or NIA and cited several earlier judgements of different courts in support of his argument.

The counsel for one of the petitioners has questioned why the state had formed the special investigation team under Gyanwant Singh, the ADG CID, who was quizzed for his alleged role in a coal theft case.

Singh, once shunted for his role in the Rizwanur Rahman suicide case of 2007, was reinstated after Mamata came to power. He is also leading the team that is probing the murder of student-activist Anis Khan, in which little headway has been made so far.

The counsels also questioned how could the chief minister issue instruction to the state director general of police on how to frame the case.

Mookherjee submitted that 31 CCTV cameras have been installed at the place of crime as ordered by the bench on Wednesday.

The petitioners, seeking an enquiry by an agency other than those controlled by the state government, alleged that there is a possibility of tampering with evidence if a probe by CBI or NIA is not ordered immediately.

With PTI inputs