Kolkata: West Bengal police have arrested two more persons from Jharkhand in connection with the murder of coal trader and BJP leader Raju Jha at Shaktigarh in East Burdwan district.
According to the district Superintendent of Police, Kamanasish Sen, the two accused persons have been identified as Indrajit Giri and Lalbabu Kumar, who were arrested on Monday by the members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the murder of Raju Jha on March 1.
The duo was arrested from a rented accommodation in Ranchi. They were presented before a court in East Burdwan district, which remanded them 10-day police custody.
The main charge against Giri and Kumar is that they were responsible for arranging the car in which the assassins of Raju Jha arrived and escaped from the murder spot after shooting at Jha from close range.
Earlier on April 19, the police had arrested Avijit Mondal, a resident of Panagarh in West Burdwan district. Mondal was the driver of Narayan Khagra, another coal trader who was once a close confidant of Jha. Khagra has approached the Calcutta High Court claiming that Mondal does not have any past criminal record, besides questioning the role of the investigating officers in the matter.
Jha was shot dead on NH-19 near the ‘Langcha Hub’, a chain of sweet shops in Shaktigarh. His associate Brotin Bandopadhyay, who was travelling with him in an SUV, was injured in the attack.
In July 2011, months after the Trinamool Congress came to power in West Bengal for the first time, the police had arrested Jha from Raniganj, but he was later released on bail. Since then, he has been arrested multiple times.
He was also questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the agency’s investigation into the multi-crore coal smuggling scam in West Bengal.
(IANS)
