Amirul Islam, an associate of Tajemul Islam aka JCB, was arrested on Tuesday night for being involved in the incident of public flogging at Chopra in North Dinajpur.

This is the second arrest made in connection with the case.

Amirul, sources said, was a member of the gang run by JCB. He was present at Lakshmipur where JCB mercilessly caned a man and a woman on June 28 for their alleged extramarital relationship.

A video of the flogging circulated on social media and prompted Islampur police district to nab Tajemul. He is in police custody now.

“We have arrested another person who was also involved in the incident. Our officers are gathering information and also scanning the video to find out who else was involved in the act,” said Joby Thomas, the superintendent of police, Islampur police district.

On Wednesday, Amirul was produced in a local court that remanded him in five days of police custody.

The police are also in search of Gir Alam, another associate and a relative of JCB who is also known to have links with the local MLA.

After the incident, police personnel have been posted at the village near the victims’ house. However, locals and the victims’ families are still in panic as associates of JCB are roaming around and intimidating the villagers so that the latter refrain from making any comment about the incident or about JCB’s involvement in it.

Such is the panic that the mother-in-law of the woman, who was seen lying on the road as JCB went on beating her, has demanded steps against the person who has shot the video.

“I don’t know who has beaten my daughter-in-law. But how can a person shoot a video and make it viral? The video has led to her humiliation,” said the elderly woman.

A section of villagers said associates of JCB are also in search of the person who had shot the video.

“It seems that the video was shot from a height, apparently, the first or second floor of a house. The associates are checking out such houses which are near the spot and also inquiring as to who all were carrying cell phones when the incident happened. We all are in panic,” said a villager who didn’t want to be named.

Trinamool leaders of North Dinajpur district, a section of whom are irked with the incident and have accused Hamidul Rahaman, the Chopra MLA of patronizing people like JCB. They said the MLA has been asked to submit an elaborate reply to the state leadership.

“The district president served him a show cause notice yesterday. He should clarify why he couldn’t stop such an incident,” said a party leader.

On Wednesday, Rahaman sounded flummoxed as newspersons tossed questions at him as he was spotted outside the Assembly in Calcutta. He was there to attend the meeting of a standing committee.

“I don’t support the incident and I have never patronized Tajemul Islam. He is facing legal consequences,” he said.

When mentioned his comment that the woman had also done “wrong” (by getting into an extramarital affair), the MLA said: “I have said whatever I have heard from the villagers. You should go and ask the locals.”