Police on Saturday arrested two persons, including a Trinamool Congress zilla parishad member, in connection with the alleged conspiracy to stage a road accident targeting Bholanath Ghosh, a key witness in CBI cases against Sheikh Shahjahan, that eventually claimed two lives.

Uttam Sardar, the zilla parishad member, and Ruhul Kuddus Sheikh were remanded in police custody for nine days by the additional chief judicial magistrate's court in Basirhat.

The names of the arrested emerged during the investigation initiated by the Nazat police. Neither of them, however, was named in the original FIR lodged by Ghosh.

Although Ghosh had named eight persons in his complaint, the police have so far failed to arrest any of them. The prime suspect, truck driver Alim Molla, who allegedly crushed Ghosh's car, was still absconding.

Sardar was arrested from Hatishala under the jurisdiction of the Polerhat police station, while Sheikh was picked up from Sarberia in Sandeshkhali on Friday night.

On Wednesday morning, an empty cargo truck suddenly crossed lanes on the Basanti highway and rammed head-on into a Maruti Alto carrying Ghosh, his son Satyajit, and two of his associates. They were on their way to a hearing before the additional district and sessions judge-2 in Basirhat. Satyajit and the driver, Shahanur Molla, were killed on the spot, while Bholanath sustained injuries.

Superintendent of police, Basirhat police district, Hossain Mehedi Rehman, declined to divulge specific details about the role allegedly played by the two accused. He told The Telegraph: “They were not named in the FIR submitted by the complainant. But we have found their involvement in the entire incident, which cannot be disclosed now for the sake of the investigation.”

Assistant public prosecutor Arun Kumar Pal said: “The duo have been arrested for criminal conspiracy under the provisions of Section 61(2) of the BNS. The investigating team has sufficient material indicating their involvement, despite their names not figuring in the FIR initially.”

The court, however, allowed a plea by the accused duo, permitting their lawyers to be present during interrogation while in police custody. Defence counsel Raja Bhowmik alleged that the two had been subjected to physical torture and claimed they were arrested “on mere suspicion”.

Police sources, however, maintained that the investigation revealed Ruhul Kuddus Sheikh had been tasked with tracking Bholanath's daily movements. According to the sources, Ruhul was on the road on the day of the incident and followed Ghosh’s Maruti Alto until it was allegedly hit head-on by the truck.

The investigators also claimed that Uttam Sardar, described as a strong rival of Bholanath, had provided crucial information about the scheduled court hearing in the case against Sheikh Shahjahan, for which Ghosh was travelling to Basirhat on the day of the crash.

Sardar was arrested in February last year following widespread protests by local women over alleged atrocities against them. A close aide to Sheikh Shahjahan, Sardar was suspended by the Trinamool leadership on February 10 last year for six years on charges of “ill behaviour”.