As part of the ongoing investigation into the murder of Trinamool Congress Malda district vice-president and councillor of English Bazar Municipality, Dulalchandra Sarkar alias Babla, the Malda Police on Friday recovered one 9 mm pistol, two pistols, seven rounds of live ammunitions and the clothes and shoes worn by the accused at the time of the crime.
According to police sources, during questioning, arrested accused Swapan Sharma revealed that absconding prime accused Krishna Rajak, alias Rohan, was offered a contract of Rs 50 lakh and each of the seven accused in the case were paid Rs 35,000.
On January 2 morning, Sarkar was shot from a close range by three men on a motorbike in the English bazar area of Malda town. He succumbed to injuries later in the day.
So far, seven persons, most of them from neighbouring Bihar, have been arrested in connection with the murder of TMC leader, who was considered close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Additionally, the police also arrested Sarkar’s party colleague, Narendranath Tiwari, in connection with the murder case probe on Wednesday, following which the Trinamool congress suspended him from the party on Thursday.
Tiwari was named the key conspirator along with his close associate Swapan Sharma in the murder of Sarkar. Tiwari and the six others have been booked for murder, criminal conspiracy and under various sections of the Arms Act, police said.
Soon after the incident, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hit out at Malda Superintendent of Police Pradeep Kumar Yadav, holding him accountable for the murder.
Alleging that Sarkar’s murder was “due to the negligence of police”, the chief minister had said: “He was attacked before. He used to get security. It was later withdrawn.”
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