Kolkata, May 26 (IANS) Prashant Barman, the absconding former BDO of Raiganj Block in North Dinajpur district of West Bengal, accused in the case of the abduction and murder of gold merchant Swapan Kamilya was granted bail by a district court on Tuesday as the investigating officers failed to furnish the necessary documents related to the abduction-cum-murder case to the court.
Barman’s arrest, which happened in New Town on the northern outskirts of Kolkata around midnight on Monday, was coincidental and dramatic.
According to information provided by the Bidhannagar City Police, under whose jurisdiction New Town falls, Barman, while driving his car in a heavily intoxicated state at night, hit a two-wheeler rider.
The two-wheeler rider somehow got up and blocked the path of Barman’s vehicle and asked him to get out of the vehicle.
Instead of being apologetic, Barman, in a heavily intoxicated state, started abusing him.
Soon, some local people assembled at the spot, and Barman started abusing them as well.
One of the local persons present there recorded the Barman’s entire abusive behaviour and later circulated it on social media, the authenticity of which could not be independently verified by IANS.
As the situation at the scene grew tense, personnel from the local Ecopark Police Station arrived.
They detained Barman and took him to the police station.
Later, he was arrested.
He was produced before a district court in North 24 Parganas district on Tuesday afternoon with two separate charges against him, the first in relation to drunk driving and the second in relation to the abduction-cum-murder case.
However, though the judge of the district court waited for several hours, the investigating officers were unable to furnish the necessary documents related to the abduction-cum-murder case within the stipulated period.
Finally, Barman was granted bail by the district court judge in the drunk-driving case, on a personal bond of Rs 1,000.
Barman, a close confidant of some leaders in the previous ruling party, Trinamool Congress, had been absconding for a long time after being accused of the murder of gold merchant Swapan Kamilya at Salt Lake’s Dattabad in October last year.
On October 29 last year, Kamilya’s body was recovered from near a canal at Dattabad, Salt Lake.
Barman was accused of abducting and killing him.
The accused BDO had even managed to obtain anticipatory bail from a sub-divisional court in the matter.
The Bidhannagar City Police then approached the Calcutta High Court to oppose the anticipatory bail.
The High Court rejected the anticipatory bail order and directed him to surrender by December 22, 2025.
However, when he failed to do so, the Bidhannagar Court issued an arrest warrant against him.
In that situation, Barman approached the Supreme Court.
A bench of Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Vijay Bishnoi ordered him to surrender by January 23, 2026.
Since then, Barman had been absconding.
–IANS
src/dan
