Murshidabad violence crackdown: 14 more held, total reaches 306

Kolkata: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has arrested 14 more people in the past three days in connection with the violence in Murshidabad, including a few involved in the father-son double murder.

With the arrests made till Tuesday, the figure has reached 306 in 153 cases registered in Samserganj, Suti and Raghunathganj police stations.

According to police, six persons were detained on Monday from Jharsuguda in Odisha who had fled after the violence. Later, on Monday night they were arrested.

The six persons were allegedly involved in the arson and rioting cases in Jafrabad and Betbona villages in Samserganj, Jangipur and had escaped to Odisha after the incident.

The West Bengal STF with the help of Odisha Police arrested two sons of Ziaul Sheikh, one of the prime suspects in the murder of a father-son duo, from Jharsuguda district. The two arrested are Bani Israel and Sefaul Haque. The others detained are Babul Sk, Abdul Khalek, Saba Karim, Roni Sk, Manarul Sk and Azfarul Sk. All belong to Murshidabad, police said, adding that further investigation on their role in the violence is being probed. Police are learnt to have also recovered one country-made pistol from the possession of the accused persons.

Two 7.62 mm live ammunition and four 9 mm empty cartridges have also been seized. Police sources said all the accused had gone home to Murshidabad during Eid celebrations and allegedly took part in the violence.

They then returned to Jharsuguda and were in hiding. On Sunday, following the fourth arrest in the father-son double murder case in Jafrabad, the total arrest figure in Murshidabad violence had reached 292 in 153 cases registered in three police stations i.e. Samserganj, Suti and Raghunathganj.