A lawyer based in Jalpaiguri town has been arrested on Tuesday night for allegedly trying to break an ATM kiosk machine.

Police sources said that on January 12, lawyer Dipankar Majumdar entered an ATM kiosk in Malkani, on the outskirts of the town, with some others. He damaged the machine but could not take away the cash.

“He then fled. We were searching for him. On Tuesday he was nabbed from Mohinagar. We suspect he has information about other members of the gang,” said an officer ofKotwali police station.

Police sources said that Majumdar was arrested for similar attempts earlier and was even behind bars for a while.

“The lawyer concerned was involved in crime and had been arrested a number of times. We expelled him from the bar association much earlier,” said Bipul Roy, secretary of the Jalpaiguri Bar Association.

Police sources said Dipankar has connections with criminals involved in looting ATM machines. “Our officers are checking the call list of his cell phone for more details,” said a source.

On Wednesday, Dipankar was produced at the chief judicial magistrate’s court, which sent him in police custody for seven days.

Highway blockade

Some residents of Dhupguri block in Jalpaiguri blocked Asian Highway 48 on Wednesday morning with the body of a youth who died in a road accident, demanding the identification of the killer vehicle and the driver’s arrest.

Sources said that on January 27, three youths from Pradhanpara village of the block were on their way to a market on a bike when a vehicle rammed their two-wheeler from behind. All three got injured, Pintu Roy, 27, most severely.

Pintu died at the block hospital on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, residents put up the blockade with his body. Police have not been able to locate the vehicle that hit Pintuand his friends, they said.

Traffic came to a halt for an hour on the stretch after which police persuaded the protesters to leave.