Third arrest made in accident death case of Sandeshkhali witness’ son

Kolkata, Dec 14 (IANS) The police on Sunday evening arrested another person in connection with the mysterious death of Satyajit Ghosh, the younger son of Bhola Ghosh, a key witness in a criminal case against suspended Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan of Sandeshkhali in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district.

The arrested individual has been identified as Golam Hossian Mollah, who was the cleaner of the truck that allegedly rammed into the vehicle in which Bhola Ghosh and his son were travelling last week. The duo were on their way to a district court, where Bhola Ghosh was scheduled to record his statement against Shahjahan.

However, police officials said they were yet to conclusively establish whether Golam Hossian Mollah was present inside the truck at the time it struck the vehicle carrying the witness and his son.

This is the third arrest made in the case so far. On Saturday, police had arrested two other individuals — Uttam Sardar alias Sushanta, a Trinamool Congress activist from Sandeshkhali and a former close confidant of Sheikh Shahjahan, and Ruhul Kuddus Sheikh — in connection with the incident.

Notably, none of the three persons arrested so far figures among the eight individuals named in the written complaint filed earlier this week by Bhola Ghosh at the Nazat police station, which falls under the Basirhat district police jurisdiction.

In his complaint, Bhola Ghosh alleged that eight individuals had conspired to stage the road accident, claiming that he was the intended target because of his role as a key witness against Shahjahan, who has been locally described as the terror of Sandeshkhali. The first two names mentioned in the complaint are those of Sheikh Shahjahan and his wife, Taslima Bibi.

Following Golam Hossian Mollah’s arrest on Sunday evening, Bhola Ghosh expressed doubts over the direction of the investigation, stating that he was trying to understand “what kind of game” the state police were playing in the matter.

Satyajit Ghosh died on Wednesday after a truck rammed into the vehicle in which he was travelling with his father to the district court to record the latter’s statement against Shahjahan. Bhola Ghosh narrowly escaped with his life, while the driver of their vehicle, Shahnur Molla, also succumbed to injuries sustained in the crash.

Bhola Ghosh has repeatedly claimed that the attack was aimed at him and not his son. “I was the target because I am one of the main witnesses against Shahjahan,” he had said earlier.

src/pgh