The suspended block development officer (BDO) of Jalpaiguri’s Rajganj, Prasanta Barman, was arrested in Salt Lake on Tuesday after nearly 10 hours of police questioning for allegedly hitting a pedestrian while driving a black Thar in an inebriated condition.
Police said Barman, who had been absconding, was also wanted in a Salt Lake murder case.
In January, the Supreme Court had rejected his anticipatory bail plea in connection with the alleged abduction and murder of Swapan Kamilla, a jewellery shop owner from Salt Lake’s Duttabad. Kamilla was found murdered near a canal in October.
On Monday night, a two-wheeler rider, Shakil Ahmed, chased Barman’s SUV and stopped it in New Town after the injured pedestrian shouted for help near the Shrachi traffic signal.
Ahmed identified the man driving the SUV as the absconding BDO. He forced Barman to roll down the window and recorded the interaction on his mobile phone before alerting the police.
A team from Eco Park police station reached the spot and took Barman to the station. He was later arrested in connection with the alleged hit-and-run.
“I was waiting on my two-wheeler when the pedestrian, who had been hit by the black Thar, fell on me. I looked up and saw the SUV speeding away. A man accompanying the injured pedestrian shouted, ‘dada, dhoro (catch him)’,” Ahmed said on Tuesday.
“The SUV was about to cross the traffic signal when it turned red. I stopped my two-wheeler in front of the Thar and asked the driver to step out. When he rolled down the window, I recognised him as the former Rajganj BDO, Prasanta Barman.”
A video Ahmed later uploaded on social media shows Barman, wearing a black T-shirt and a black baseball cap, putting on a surgical mask after realising he had been identified. It also shows him threatening Ahmed for recording the conversation on his phone. He is later
seen daring officers from Eco Park police station to arrest him.
The footage shows the officers asking him to step out of the SUV and escorting him into a police vehicle. At the police station, Barman was first detained for questioning and then arrested.
Reacting to the arrest, jeweller Kamilla’s wife said: “I want the new state government to ensure that he is never released.”
Barman was produced at a Barasat court on Tuesday. The court granted him bail around 7.30pm. He walked out and took a cab, refusing to speak to reporters.
Sources in the Barasat court said Barman was not directly tagged in the abduction and murder case of Kamilla. The charges levelled by Eco Park police station were bailable, leading to his release.
The arrest of a murder-accused who had been absconding for months, and was identified only after a civilian intervened, has raised questions over why he was not traced earlier.
“A section of the police has developed bad habits, lying, rubbing shoulders with politicians, sharing with thieves and robbers. They need to change their ways, given the manner in which the public has become aggressive now,” said Dilip Ghosh, Bengal’s panchayat minister.
Ghosh did not clarify what the police were “sharing”. He added: “Police-er sabdhan howa uchit (The police should be careful).”
Barman’s name surfaced in the abduction and murder case after Kamilla’s family lodged a complaint in October, alleging that the then BDO and his associates kidnapped the jeweller from his shop and killed him.
The police later arrested five men, including Barman’s driver Raju Dhali; Tufan Thapa, a civic contractor from north Bengal close to Barman; Sajal Sarkar, a Trinamool leader from Cooch Behar; Gobinda Sarkar, Sajal’s aide; and Vivekananda Sarkar, a former driver of Barman.