Sashti and (behind) Asit Gyne after their arrest. Picture by Gopal Senapati

Expelled Trinamul Congress leader Sashti Gyne and his brother Asit were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the murder of party leader Tapan Dutta.

Dutta, 48, the vice-president of Trinamul’s Bally-Jagachha block unit, was shot dead on May 6 near Ghoshpara railway crossing in Bally on his way home to Sapuipara.

Sashti Gyne was then the district secretary of the party and the president of the block unit. He was expelled from the party on August 4 after his involvement in the murder became obvious, said party insiders.

The CID claimed to have “clinching evidence” against the duo. Investigators refused to reveal details for the sake of the probe.

“We have found clues that indicate they conspired and masterminded the murder of Dutta,” said DIG CID (operations) Jayaraman.

Trinamul leaders had blamed the CPM for Dutta’s murder.

“Dutta had set up a citizens’ forum against filling up of wetlands at the site of an industrial project in the Bally-Jagachha block. Sashti and Asit Gyne were trying to fill the wetland and thus came into conflict with Dutta,” said a CID officer.

Subhash Bhowmick alias Bablu and Sheti Bapi had been arrested earlier in connection with the murder. Police claimed that they had confessed to shooting Dutta.

The Gyne family owns a petrol pump near Rajchandrapur toll plaza in Bally. The brothers were summoned to the CID headquarters on Tuesday morning. After a round of interrogation, they were arrested and produced in the chief judicial magistrate’s court in Howrah. They have been remanded in police custody for 10 days.

Cops are probing the involvement of the private company behind the industrial project.

“Everyone knows who killed my father. He had informed all the tiers of the district administration about how he was getting threat calls from local Trinamul and CPM leaders,” said Dutta’s eldest daughter Priyanka, a third-year student of Pyari Mohon College in Uttarpara.

“I would not be shocked if some state minister’s name also gets involved in this case,” she added.

Priyanka had described the circumstances leading to her father’s death when state environment minister Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar visited the family after the murder. She had also sought a job from him.