Police on Monday arrested a 26-year-old man, a resident of Salt Lake’s Sukantanagar, in connection with the killing of Saheb Ali Sardar, who had stepped in to stop a fight following a row over playing music after a Jagaddhatri Puja immersion on Sunday.
An officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said Deepak Halder, alias Alok, was arrested after several eyewitnesses told them that he had held Saheb’s arms while Bittu Sardar stabbed him in the neck with a pair of scissors.
On Sunday night, Saheb had tried to stop a fight that broke out between Bittu and Mukhtar Ali after an altercation between the two over playing music.
Bittu, who the police said always carried a pair of scissors in the pocket of his jeans, used it to stab Saheb to death. Mukhtar, too, was stabbed and slashed by Bittu, the officer said.
“Several eyewitnesses told us that Halder had held back Saheb’s hands when Bittu slashed him with his scissors before finally driving it into his neck,” said the officer.
Halder fled with Bittu after Saheb slumped in a pool of blood and had been absconding.
Around 11.30am on Sunday, Bittu was spotted by some Sukantanagar residents and was assaulted with bamboo poles, sticks and brickbats. The mob also assaulted a few cops when they tried to rescue Bittu.
On Monday, he was still being treated in the intensive care unit of the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
“He fractured his ribs and also suffered multiple other injuries. A head injury required 17 stitches. Although his condition is still critical, he is responding to treatment,” an official at the hospital said.
Another officer in the Bidhannagar commissionerate said Bittu has been charged under several sections of the IPC, including 302 (murder) and 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons).
“We will arrest him as soon as he is discharged from the hospital,” said the officer.
A police picket has been set up at Sukantanagar, off EM Bypass. Police teams have also been posted in front of Bittu’s house.
Bittu’s house is barely five minutes’ walk from the house of Saheb, the victim. Cops have been posted in lanes leading to both houses.
“This has been done to protect both families,” said a senior officer of the commissionerate.
A larger police force has been posted near Basanti Devi Colony Sporting Club in Sukantanagar as well as in the lanes leading to EM Bypass and Salt Lake Bypass.