A member of the engineering regiment of the territorial army in Gujarat, Sayed Alamgir Hossain, was arrested in Murshidabad district’s Khargram on Tuesday for allegedly attacking police and destroying government properties during Saturday’s protest by members of the Indian Secular Front at Esplanade in central Kolkata.
Police have so far arrested 21 people for their alleged involvement in Saturday’s violence that brought traffic to a standstill for over an hour in the heart of the city.
“Hossain is originally from Monai Kandra village in Murshidabad’s Burwan area. He has been living in Khargram for some time now. We had identified him from images and CCTV footage as one of those who had actively participated in Saturday’s violence,” said a senior police officer.
“He was arrested in front of his home on Tuesday afternoon.”
Hossain’s arrest followed that of Sheikh Mohammad Iqbal, who was rounded up from the intersection of Strand Road and Hare Street on Sunday evening.
Iqbal has been remanded in police custody by the Bankshal court till February 1.
Eighteen others, including ISF MLA Naushad Siddiqui, were arrested on Saturday. They, too, are in police custody.
“Hossain was posted in Gujarat and stayed in Tarsali, a small town on the outskirts of Vadodara. He returned home on a two-month leave and had joined the ISF rally on Saturday,” the officer said.
Like the others arrested in the case, Hossain has been booked under the sections of the Indian Penal Code that deal with attempt to murder, rioting with deadly weapons, assaulting a public servant and unlawful assembly, a police officer said.
He has also been charged under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order Act 1972.
Hossain will be produced in the Bankshal court on Wednesday.
The ISF will organise a march to protest the arrest of Siddiqui, who is Bhangar’s MLA, on Wednesday afternoon. The rally is scheduled to start from Sealdah and end at Esplanade.
The police have denied permission to Trinamul Congress supporters to organise a rally in Bhangar, in South 24-Parganas district, on Wednesday to protest Saturday’s violence.
On Tuesday, some members of Siddiqui’s family met him at the central lock-up in Lalbazar.
The ISF organised the protest at Esplanade on Saturday to demand the arrest of Arabul Islam, Trinamul’s leader in Bhangar, for allegedly spearheading an attack on ISF supporters. The police came under attack when they went to disperse the protesters.
Seven arrested for online fraud of Rs 72.42 lakh
Seven persons have been arrested recently for their alleged involvement in an allegedly online fraud to the tune of Rs 72.42 lakh where fraudsters had managed to access the net banking details of the complainant and siphon off the money from his account at the Burrabazar branch of a private bank, police said.
An officer of the detective department said the accused had transferred the swindled amount through multiple bank accounts. The entire money was withdrawn through ATM, police said.