Police seize scooters used in murder of Bhadreshwar Municipality chairman

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Express photo by Partha Paul.

In a major development in the investigation into the murder of Bhadreshwar Municipality chairman and Trinamool Congress leader Manoj Upadhyay, Chandannagar Police on Saturday seized the two scooters used by the shooters in the crime as well as a huge cache of firearms. Upadhyay was shot dead on November 21 near GT Road in Bhadreshwar when he was returning home on a motorcycle.

This is the second major development in the case after the arrest of seven persons on November 27 from Varanasi, who are all accused in the murder. The arrests were made within 24 hours after new Chandannagar Police

Commissioner Ajay Kumar took charge. The seven arrested persons had been remanded to 14-day police custody.
Speaking with The Sunday Express, Kumar said that six firearms, including one 7 mm pistol and five single shutter guns, were recovered along with ten rounds of live cartridges and two fired cartridges. The firearms and the scooters were seized from a hideout in Singur in Hooghly district.

“The main conspirator in the case is Raju Shaw, who is an independent councillor in the area. He is still absconding. There are three-four others who are involved in the case but they are absconding too. We are trying to ascertain whether these accused are still in the state or hiding in another somewhere else,’’ he said.

Kumar said that prima facie the motive behind the murder seems to be that Upadhyay had posed an obstacle in the various illegal activities carried out by the local councillor and his associates. “We are also to determine what kind of illegal activities were being carried out. But right now it looks like they were trying to get various works done through the municipality, which the chairman had objected to,’’ he said.

Sources in the police said that professional rivalry between Shaw and Upadhyay, with Shaw aspiring to be the municipal chairman, might have also triggered the attack.

Police have arrested eight persons in the case. Accused Munna Rai was arrested before the Varanasi arrests. On November 27, seven others — Raju Choudhury, Ratan Choudhury, Prabhu Chowdhury, Krishna Chowdhury, Aakash Chowdhury, Rajesh Chowdhury and Santosh Prasad — were arrested from a lodge in Varanasi.

Sources said Ratan and Raju are brothers and are known offenders in the area. They have been allegedly involved in extortion, syndicate business, among other illegal activities.

The incident had triggered tension in the area with the Trinamool and the BJP blaming each other for the murder.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, had earlier visited the area. TMC minister Tapan Dasgupta had alleged that Upadhyay was murdered by former CPM men who had now joined the BJP.