Police arrested Murselin Mollah, nephew of prime accused Rafiqul Mollah, from a hideout at Joynagar in South 24-Parganas on Tuesday evening in connection with last week’s murder of three Trinamul Congress leaders at Canning.

The trio were killed on July 7 at Gopalpur.

Acting on a tip-off, a special investigating team of Canning police conducted Naka checking on Belgachia road when Murselin was nabbed while travelling on an e-rickshaw. The police have seized a pistol, along with living ammunition, from him. The police also arrested rickshaw operator Abdul Rehaman Laskar for his suspected involvement in the murder conspiracy and for allegedly providing shelter to a murder accused.

On July 7 morning, Gopalpur Panchayat member Swapan Ghosh and his close aides Bhutnath Pramanik and Jhantu Halder, who were riding a motorcycle, were stopped near Kochua Pear Park by a group of around six goons, who shot them from close range.

Later, the assailants slit their throats to ensure the death. The trio were going to a nearby party office to attend a meeting in connection with July 21 rally in Calcutta.

On the basis of eyewitness accounts, the investigators came to know that Rafiqul Molla and at least five others were involved in the triple murder. But Rafiqul, a known Trinamul activist in the area, has remained elusive so far.

The police also arrested Rafiq Sheikh, a Trinamul activist, who was the prime accused in the murder of the party’s youth wing leader Muharram Sheikh in November last year. A special team of Baruipur police district nabbed him from a hideout in the Hingalganj area of North 24-Parganas.

On November 21 night, Muharram Sheikh, 36, party’s youth wing’s Nikarighata area committee president and a close aide to Trinmul’s Canning west MLA Pareshram Das, was shot dead near his home by assailants as a fallout of enmity with a rival faction of the party since he protested their extortion from businessmen in the area.

The police after scanning the CCTV footage of the attack said that a gang of four assailants led by Rafiq Sheikh, fired at least four rounds targeting Muharram at about 8pm when he was speaking to some party colleagues sitting in front of his residence.