Krishnagar, Aug. 29: Bhola Biswas, the man accused of selling his wife to clear a debt of Rs 10,000, has been arrested.

Having traded Reena, whom he married after an affair, for Rs 15,000 in April, Bhola had been eluding police.

They caught up with him yesterday at his house in Debnathpur in Tehatta, 150 km from Calcutta, when he came to see his ailing mother.

The garment trader, who had borrowed money from an acquaintance in Delhi, allegedly sold his wife to a couple of touts. The police said Bhola, 29, who had been hiding at various places, reached home on Friday from a hideout in Kalna in Burdwan.

Additional superintendent Biswarup Ghosh today said the police had information that Bhola would return home. “We had a tip-off that Bhola was in Kalna, so we informed the Burdwan police. We also had information that he would soon come home to see his ailing mother,” Ghosh said.

During questioning, Bhola apparently denied having sold Reena, whom he married a year ago, but admitted that she was his second wife.

Ghosh said: “He admitted that he owed money to Swapan Biswas, a one-time friend who is a trader in the Chandni Chowk area of Delhi. But he denied the charge that he sold his wife to the touts, Subrata Sarkar and Sudhangshu Das, when Swapan demanded his money back.”

A district police team rescued Reena and her month-old baby from a red-light area in Delhi on August 7.

Sources quoted Bhola as telling the police: “When I reached Delhi with Reena, my friend Swapan pressured me to repay his debt. When I told him about my inability to pay, he asked me to hand over Reena to Sudhangshu and Subrata. I did not do that, but when they threatened to kill me, I fled.”

Bhola had told Reena’s family that she went missing in the capital. Before marriage, he had lied to them about his first wife.

The district police worked together with Delhi police to pick up Swapan, Subrata and Sudhangshu from Delhi in June following a complaint by Reena’s father Rabi Biswas.