The police in Malda arrested a civic volunteer for forging the signature and the official seal of a gram panchayat head and using those to lodge a police complaint against some other civic volunteers

Bimal Sarkar, the accused who was posted at Malda police station, has been suspended. Police have initiated a probe to gather more details.

Sources said a complaint was filed at Malda police station by Prabhunath Dube, the pradhan of the BJP-run Bhabuk panchayat that is in Old Malda block of the district.

“In the complaint, certain allegations were made against four civic volunteers who are posted at the police station. We started an investigation on its basis and a copy of the complaint was also sent to senior officers as the charge was against civic volunteers,” said a police officer.

During inquiry, police came to know that Dube has never filed any such complaint.

“In due course, it was revealed that Bimal Sarkar had forged his signature and the official seal. His plan was to get posting in a specific area and thus accused his colleagues for encouraging hooch trade in the locality. His idea was that a complaint from the panchayat head would make us post him in that place,” the officer added.

Dube, the pradhan, confirmed that he didn’t file any complaint. “I was surprised to learn from police officers that someone has forged my signature and official seal,” he said.

Arrest

The crime branch of Cooch Behar district arrested two men and seized three firearms and two rounds of live ammunition from them on Wednesday evening.

Dyutiman Bhattacharya, the district police chief, said Abhijit Das and Mangal Bind were arrested from Gorosthan More of Cooch Behar town.

As the duo was frisked, three improvised firearms and the live ammunition were recovered from their possession. Both were remanded in police custody for five days by a local court on Thursday.