Oct. 4: The husband of a Trinamul councillor in Serampore and two of his followers were arrested last night in connection with the death of footballer Snehasish Dasgupta, whose body was found beside the railway tracks near Serampore station early on Sunday.

Pintu Nag, whose wife Mousumi is councillor of Ward 27 of Serampore Municipality, was arrested based on a complaint filed by the 21-year-old footballer's family with Serampore police station. Pintu was once a councillor of the same civic body.

In the complaint, Snehasish's family accused Pintu, Mousumi and five others of assaulting and murdering the youth.

"We booked Pintu Nag and two others, Kaliranjan Das and Pratap Mandal, on murder charges," an officer of the police station said.

Snehasish's mother Rinku has alleged that her son was alone at home on September 29 when the Nags' followers came and assaulted him. Snehasish, who used to play for Calcutta Port Trust, left home next evening saying he would meet one of his friends. He did not return.

Snehasish's dismembered body was found beside the railway tracks the next day. The police said the driver of a Burdwan-bound train had alerted them about an incident of "knock down".

"We have come across some leads suggesting that Snehasish was assaulted. We are trying to ascertain whether the assaulters murdered Snehasish, whether the youth was thrown in front of a speeding train," an investigating officer said.

The Dasguptas' neighbours organised a candlelight rally last evening demanding arrest of the killers.

The police said Snehasish had, a day before his body was found, uploaded a post on a social networking site saying he was depressed as everyone was selfish.