Kolkata, July 24 (IANS) One more person was arrested on Friday in connection with the lynching of a youth on July 5 at Baruipur in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district after the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl there.
The accused person has been identified as Lutfar Sheikh (46). He had already been presented at a district court in South 24 Parganas on Friday afternoon, and the public prosecutor has sought his police custody.
An Investigating Officer in the case said that they want to interrogate the arrested person to find out who else were involved in the lynching incident.
With the arrest of Sheikh, the total number of arrests in the case had increased to nine.
The police came to know about his association with the lynching of 26-year-old Indrajit Tanti as a suspect in the alleged rape and murder by questioning the eight other accused persons in the case who were arrested earlier.
The police have already registered cases against the eight persons arrested earlier under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, relating to unlawful assembly, rioting, obstructing the work of a public servant, wilfully causing hurt to a public person and murder by lynching.
Incidentally, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari went to Baruipur earlier this month and handed over a compensation cheque of Rs 25 lakh to the family members of the 26-year-old youth killed in mob lynching, who had already been declared innocent in the case of the alleged rape and murder of the minor girl following investigation by the police.
The Chief Minister also announced the job of a civic volunteer in the state police for the elder brother of the victim and also said those who were rejected by the people in the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly polls were behind the mob-lynching conspiracy.
Three cases have been registered by the police in the Baruipur incident, and separate investigations are underway.
The first case is in relation to the alleged rape and murder of the minor girl.
The second case is on the mob-lynching of the youth.
The third case is about the massive violence in the area, where property like railway tracks and police vehicles were vandalised, and police personnel were attacked and injured.
Already, 42 persons have been arrested in this connection.
In the first case, that is in connection with the rape and murder of the minor girl, four persons have been arrested so far. One of them, Pravas Mondal, was killed in an encounter as he was trying to escape from police custody by snatching the firearm of an escorting cop.
–IANS
src/khz