Murshidabad unrest: Police forms SIT; 2 booked for killing father-son duo

Kolkata: Two persons have been arrested in the murder of a father-son duo in Jafrabad while after almost five days of violence in parts of Murshidabad district, the affected areas are slowly returning to normalcy aided by police and Central Forces.

Moreover, on Tuesday, Poila Baisakh (Bengali New Year), several shops in Dhulian opened despite the low customer footfall.

Supratim Sarkar, Additional Director General (ADG), South Bengal said that two persons, Haragobinda Das and his son Chandan Das, were murdered by a group of people on Saturday.

During the probe, two persons were arrested late on Monday night. He also said that so far the arrest figure reached 221.

“We had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) which checked the CCTV footage and identified several people. Among them, two persons were arrested last night during a raid. The arrested duo Kalu Nadab and Dildar Nadab of Digri area near Jafrabad were directly involved. Among them, Kalu was arrested from Murarai in Birbhum while Dildar was arrested from a place close to Indo-Bangladesh border in Suti area,” said ADG, South Bengal.

Police have blocked more than 2000 social media accounts using which fake information was allegedly circulated. Police are continuously monitoring the social media platforms to identify any fake news or information regarding the Murshidabad violence. In the past few days, several police officers from rank and file who have earlier served in Murshidabad were deployed as they are aware of the topography and the people of the areas. Sources informed that at present about 17 companies of Central Forces are deployed in Murshidabad, including in the worst affected areas. The Central Forces included eight companies of CRPF and nine companies of BSF who were trained to handle riot-like situations. The Central Forces were working in tandem with the state police to restore normalcy.

Earlier on Monday, Director General (DG) of the state police, Rajeev Kumar, on Monday, had urged people not to panic as police pickets have been set up in all vulnerable areas. The DG requested people not to fall for rumours and prevent circulation of any unverified information.

Kumar since Saturday evening has been camping in Murshidabad along with several senior IPS officers, including Sarkar and others. The DG visited places where violence broke out over the Waqf (Amendment) Act protest.