One of the key accused in the murder of Englishbazar Trinamul Congress leader Dulal Sarkar has been arrested from Bihar, but Malda police didn’t reveal how they had tracked down Krishna aka Rohon Rajak.

On Thursday, Rajak was arrested in Bihar with the help of the police of the neighbouring state. The Malda police had announced a reward of ₹2 lakh for providing any clue about his whereabouts.

The 30-year-old was produced in a court here amid tight security on Friday and remanded in police custody for seven days.

Rajak had been absconding for around four months.

With Rajak in custody, nine persons, including a former head of the Englishbazar municipality and the former Trinamool president of the Englishbazar town block committee, Narendranath Tiwary, have been arrested so far in connection with
Sarkar’s murder.

Sarkar, a sitting Trinamool councillor, was gunned down in the Mahanandapally area of Malda on January 2 by a gang of youths while he was entering his plywood factory.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had expressed shock over Sarkar’s murder and upbraided the Malda police. Later, she visited Sarkar’s residence to console his wife and other family members.

Rajeev Kumar, the DGP, also visited Malda to check out the progress of the investigation.

During the probe, the police learned that the plot to murder the Trinamool leader had been hatched at Rajak’s house at Mahanandapally a few days before the incident.

Bablu Yadav, another accused, is still out of the police net. A cash reward of ₹2 lakh was announced for him by the police.

Chaitali Sarkar, a member of the chairman-in-council of Englishbazar municipality and the wife of the slain TMC leader, said Rajak was one of the shooters who had killed her husband in broad daylight.

“I am happy that the police finally arrested him. The arrest might lead to the disclosure of the names of other possible masterminds,” she said.