Within hours of chief minister Suvendu Adhikari publicly repeating on Tuesday his government's commitment to revisit crimes allegedly committed during the previous Trinamool Congress regime, police launched a fresh crackdown and arrested 12 accused in the deaths of Tamanna Khatun, Debu Das and his wife Usharani.

Two are accused of the murder of Kaliganj bomb attack victim Tamanna, 10, on June 23, 2025. The remaining 10 were all FIR-named accused in the 2018 Kakdwip killings of CPM workers Debu and Usharani. All 12 were arrested on Tuesday night.

Both cases had become symbols of alleged political violence and administrative inaction in Bengal during the Trinamool regime.

A CPM delegation led by Domkal MLA Mustafizur Rahman, along with party leader Minakshi Mukherjee, met Suvendu in the Assembly on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum demanding a speedy investigation into 21 pending cases of alleged murders and atrocities, including the deaths of Tamanna, Debu, Usharani, RG Kar doctor Abhaya and Howrah student leader Anish Khan. Suvendu assured justice to victims whose cases, according to their families and the Left parties, had remained neglected under the previous dispensation. On Suvendu's advice, the delegation also met the DGP on Tuesday.

Tamanna's mother Sabina Yasmin, Anish Khan's father Salem Khan and Debu-Usharani's son Dipankar Das were present during the meeting with Suvendu.

Sabir Sheikh and Jiarul Sheikh, both named in the FIR relating to Tamanna's murder, were arrested from a hideout in Murshidabad district late on Tuesday. Their arrests took the total number of persons apprehended in the case to 13. Twenty-four accused have been named in Sabina's complaint.

The duo were produced before a Krishnanagar court after a medical test on Wednesday. The court remanded them to 10 days of police custody.

Schoolgirl Tamanna was in the courtyard of her home in Molandi when she was killed in a crude bomb attack on June 23, 2025, the day of the Kaliganj bypoll result. Sabina alleged that as TMC candidate Alifa Ahmed established a lead, TMC-backed goons started attacking CPM workers and their homes with bombs, one of which struck Tamanna and killed her instantly.

"Tamanna's only fault was that her family and neighbours supported the CPM," Sabina repeatedly alleged.

Expressing gratitude for the breakthrough, Sabina thanked Suvendu on Wednesday and welcomed the police action.

"I have been saying for a long time that the criminals were not hiding — the police were hiding them. Trinamool leaders fully supported them. The administration protected the accused. I felt assured after meeting the chief minister yesterday, but I never expected such swift action. I hope the remaining accused are arrested soon and Tamanna finally gets justice," she said.

The Kakdwip case dates back to 2018, on the eve of the panchayat elections, when Dipu and his wife Usharani were burnt alive by alleged Trinamool-backed goons. Dipankar, now a practising lawyer, had named 10 persons in his FIR, including the alleged prime accused and Trinamool activist Ashok Mondal. He consistently maintained that police failed to act against those specifically named in the complaint and instead arrested others with little connection to the crime.

Dipankar greeted with relief the Tuesday night arrests of the FIR-named accused.

"The police acted only after the chief minister stressed the need for justice. Earlier, the investigation was diverted to protect the real culprits and the police never bothered to arrest those I had named in the FIR. Finally, all the persons named in my complaint have been arrested," he said.

CPM state secretary Md Salim said the arrests demonstrated that swift action was possible with political will.

"Arrests in both the Tamanna and Debu-Usharani murder cases have proved that if the government and the police want to take action against the accused, they can. Yesterday (on Tuesday), we brought several such cases to the chief minister's attention. Later, during discussions with the DGP, victims' families explained how police had protected the accused and neglected investigations. We hope similar action will now be taken in all the other cases that we raised," Salim said.