Nabanna march: Man who torched police jeep arrested

Seven suspects produced in Bankshall court on Thursday remanded in custody till September 20

A person resembling one of the arrested suspects seen setting fire to the police jeep on Tuesday.: The Telegraph

Monalisa Chaudhuri   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |   16.09.22  : A man in a saffron T-shirt who allegedly took the lead in torching a police jeep during the BJP’s planned march to Nabanna on Tuesday is among seven suspects arrested since Wednesday night.

Four others had earlier been arrested on the charges of arson or assault on police.

Footage from a video shot by an onlooker shows a man in saffron using a cigarette lighter to set fire to a towel that covers the front passenger seat in the jeep, police sources said.

They identified the man as Dip Sarkar, 27, resident of Prasanna Das Road at Garfa in southeast Calcutta.

The suspect.The Telegraph

Footage from another video appears to show the same man “moving around the PCR vehicle with a red helmet in his hand”, an officer from Burrabazar police station said.

“At one point, he climbs onto the roof of the vehicle and bangs the red helmet against the roof,” he added.

A senior officer at Lalbazar said the police had identified at least six others who, too, were part of the group that torched the police vehicle.

The police vehicle on fire near MG Road in Calcutta  on Tuesday.: File picture

These six are Mohammad Hassan Ali, 31, Kena Sardar, 44, Bharat Sardar, 32, Rajesh Sardar, 30, Sankar Sardar, 22, and Binay Kumar Saha, 36, the police said.

All seven have been charged with arson, rioting, deterring public servant(s) from performing their duty and voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant.

Apart from Sarkar and Saha, who is from Habra in North 24-Parganas, the others are residents of Chandpur village in Rajarhat, the police said.

The seven were produced in the Bankshall court on Thursday and remanded in police custody till September 20.

Lawyer Francis Samson Correa, who represented the seven, said he had told the court the police needed to provide evidence against his clients.

“Where is the fuel jerry-can, where is the lighter, what is the proof that my clients committed the act?” he said.

The police said there was ample evidence from the spot, both visual and material, proving that the seven had torched the jeep and damaged public property.

On Wednesday, the police had arrested another man who was allegedly part of the group that burnt the police vehicle.

An officer from the central division of city police said more video footage was being analysed to identify others involved in Tuesday’s violence.

“We are relying on footage and source information. We are also recording statements of those arrested,” he said.