Bengal post-poll violence: CBI arrests two persons

Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday said that it has taken into custody two persons related to its ongoing probe in the case of the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Avijit Sarkar who was killed in the West Bengal post-poll violence.

The two arrested persons are Sanjay Barik and Papiya Barik, according to a statement issued by the CBI. Both of them were named in the charge sheet filed by the central agency earlier in the matter.

The instant post-poll violence case was registered by CBI on the allegations that Sarkar was brutally assaulted by those allegedly having association with ruling Trinamool Congress in which he died.

There were complaints that the miscreants attacked the house of the deceased, looted valuables, destroyed the CCTV system and removed its DVR. The other family members of the deceased, namely Biswajit Sarkar and Madhabi Sarkar were also assaulted by the miscreants.

“It was also alleged that the accused threatened them and brutally killed Avijit Sarkar. After investigation, a charge sheet was filed against 20 accused including the said arrested accused. Both the arrested accused will be produced before the competent court,” the CBI statement said.

In May last year, the CBI summoned and questioned senior Trinamool legislator Paresh Paul in the matter. It was alleged that the killers of Sarkar were followers of Paul.

Sarkar was lynched on May 3, 2021, the very day the results for the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections were announced.

The CBI took over the investigation following an order of the Calcutta High Court. A team of National Human Right Commission (NHRC) visited different pockets of the state and submitted a report, holding several top leaders and MLAs of ruling Trinamool responsible for that post-poll violence.

–IANS

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