Bogtui carnage: CBI arrests four persons from Mumbai

Among those nabbed, Bappa Sheikh and Sabu Sheikh were named in an FIR lodged by the state police initially probing the case, said a source

A house that was charred at Bogtui on March 21 night.: Telegraph photo

Snehamoy Chakraborty   |   TT  |    Calcutta   |   08.04.22  :   The CBI on Thursday arrested four persons in the Bogtui carnage case, including two named in the FIR, from Mumbai.

The arrests are the first that the central agency made since it took over the case on March 26 following the high court order.

Nine persons died in the massacre in Bogtui village in Birbhum after the murder of Trinamul deputy chief of Barshal gram panchayat Bhadu Sheiikh on March 21.

Among the four arrested from Mumbai, Bappa Sheikh and Sabu Sheikh were named in an FIR lodged by the state police initially probing the case, said a source.

“The four will be taken to Rampurhat on transit remand from Mumbai and produced before Rampurhat court. The four actively took part in arson and massacre on March 21 night,” said a CBI source.

Earlier, the SIT of the state police arrested 21 persons in the Bogtui carnage case. In its FIR, 22 were named and some 70-80 others were not named. Among those 21 arrested, 11 were named in the FIR. The CBI sleuths were in search of the remaining 11 named persons since it took charge of the case.

Sources said that interrogations of the arrested persons helped the central agency officials came know that a large number of accused involved directly in arson on March 21 night fled the village and took shelter elsewhere.

The CBI had used tower dumping technology and tried to figure out the telephonic communication of the accused persons after Bhadu’s murder. The sleuths came to know that a group of the accused, including Bappa and Sabu, had moved to Mumbai, where some migrant workers from Bogtui worked as masons or construction labourers.

“Tracking the location of mobile phones of Bappa and Sabu, we had sent a team to Mumbai to nab the duo. They were in a hideout with two others involved in the carnage but not named in the FIR,” said a CBI source.

CBI  sources said they are looking for one Lalon Sheikh, a close aide of Bhadu, who apparently played a key role in the Bogtui carnage. “Bappa and Sabu are close aides of Lalon,” said a source.

A few families have started returning to Bogtui village after spending over two weeks with relatives in neighbouring villages.

“We want peace and normality... We want the culprits to be arrested and we want to return to our previous life. After days, a few families returned to Bogtui and children were again found playing on roads,” said Laila Biwi, a villager of Bogtui.

Local Trinamul leaders are also trying to bring normality in the village. An Iftar party was organised by local Trinamul leaders in Bogtui village on Wednesday evening. The leaders had also sent a group of private tutors in the village to help around 22 higher secondary examinees.

“We hope the situation will be norm