Bengal: One of prime suspects in murder of three Trinamool workers nabbed

KOLKATA: One of the prime suspects in the murder of three TMC workers has been arrested in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, police said on Saturday.

Local panchayat member Swapan Majhi, and two of his associates -- Bhootnath Pramanik and Jhantu Majhi –were killed after being shot at and then stabbed with sharp weapons by unidentified people in Dharmatola area of Canning in the district on July 7.

The accused, identified as Aftabuddin Sheikh, had allegedly provided information about the whereabouts of the deceased to the killers.

He was arrested from Kultuli Police Station area on Friday night, a senior officer said.

The arrested person, the brother of another accused Basir Sheikh named in the FIR filed in the case, was traced through his mobile tower location and apprehended hours after Baruipur Police constituted a five-member Special Task Force to investigate the murders, she said.

"Aftabuddin Sheikh is one of the prime suspects. He had been providing information about Majhi from time to time since Wednesday. We are questioning him for more details," the officer said.

Majhi's brother has filed an FIR against Rafikul Sardar, Basir Sheikh, Bapi Mandal, Jalaluddin Akhand, Abahdullah Mondal and Ali Hossain Laskar, she added.