Alipurduar police have arrested three residents of Assam from Cooch Behar’s Tufanganj for allegedly looting cash from a poultry farm owner three months back.

Police sources said around three months ago, the miscreants had held Nur Hossain Mondal at gunpoint and looted Rs 1.5 lakh from him at Damanpur, a locality under Kalchini police station. Mondal, a resident of Kokrajhar in Assam, was on his way to Maynaguri in Jalpaiguri district to buy chicks for his poultry when the trio intercepted him on NH27.

“We came to know that the trio carried out similar lootings on the highway and were staying at Tufangunj in Cooch Behar. On Wednesday night, the gang was arrested in a raid,” said a police officer. They have been identified as Mafijul Haque, Basir Ali and Manohar Ali. All residents of Gouripur in Assam.

Elephant attack

A 49-year-old villager was trampled to death by a wild elephant that entered Lachhmandabri village from Jaldapara National Park in Alipurduar district on Wednesday night.

Sources said the tusker trampled Bablu Rehman, severed his right hand and fled the area. Locals took him to a hospital in Falakata but he was referred to the North Bengal Medical College & Hospital. Later, he died on the way.

The foresters said they would pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation to his family.

Three held

The special operation group and a team of Matigara police arrested three persons and seized brown sugar from Matigara, which is on the outskirts of Siliguri, on Wednesday night.