Chatterjee and another police officer with the firearms seized from the plant. (Ramen Mondal)

Balurghat, Nov. 13: A painter who owns a bottling plant of water and his associate were today arrested here for allegedly possessing firearms and renting them out to rowdies. The seizure included a loaded 9mm pistol.

Two other persons have also been detained for interrogation, police said.

The owner of the plant, Subhrangshu Sikdar, 32, is a mural painter and had done post-graduation in fine art from Delhi, said the inspector-in-charge of the Balurghat police station, Dharmadeb Chatterjee.

“I wonder why he got involved in such a crime. We have to find out if he has any link with arms smugglers,” Chatterjee said.

The police official said they had information that some buyers of firearms would visit Sikdar and plainclothes men were deployed at the plant in Mangalpur.

Tarun Sarkar, 31, a resident of A.K. Gopalan Colony here is Sikdar’s associates who has also been arrested.

The police also detained Ashok Bhaduri of Sanket Para and Narayan Khatua of Uttarayan Para for interrogation. They, however, have denied their involvement and claimed that they had gone to Sikdar to buy painting.

Sikdar claimed that he was innocent and was being framed. “I was surprised to see the police in my plant. I was shocked when they recovered firearms from the premises. Soon I realised that there was a conspiracy at work,” he said.

The plant owner said he had a long-standing dispute with some local people over the plot of land where his plant stands. “They might have planted the firearms through the ventilator to harass me,” Sikdar said.