Rafiqul Sardar, a Trinamul Congress activist and prime accused in the Canning triple murder case, was arrested by police from a hide-out in Kerala’s Kozikode on Thursday night.

He was produced in a court in Kozhikode on Friday ordered three days transit remand. A senior official of the Baruipur police district said he would be brought back to Baruipur shortly and produced before the local court seeking custody for further investigation.

Police sources said the arrest was made possible by tracking the mobile number of the accused person through which he had been making contact with his family. On July 7, three Trinamul Congress leaders, including a panchayat member, were hacked and shot dead in Gopalpur village of Canning in South 24-Parganas district, a stronghold of the ruling party, by unidentified goons, in broad daylight.

Panchayat member Swapan Ghosh and his close aides Bhutnath Pramanik and Jhantu Halder were killed.They were on their way to attend a party meeting riding a motorcycle, stopped near Kochua Pear Park by a group of about half a dozen goons and shot them from close range before slitting their throat with sharp weapon to ensure death.A day after the heinous crime, the police nabbed Aftabuddin Seikh, a known Trinamul worker from Kultali.

The police said Aftab was not named in the FIR but was involved in the conspiracy. He was entrusted with the job to watch the movement of panchayat member Swapan Ghosh and inform the assailants who were waiting with arms to kill him, the police said.