Two Trinamul Congress supporters and a third person have been arrested here for allegedly kidnapping a teenager and demanding a ransom of Rs 40 lakh from the family for his release.
The arrests came as a blow to Trinamul ahead of the polls to the Siliguri Municipal Corporation. While Trinamul leaders tried to distance themselves from the duo, other parties hinted that they would highlight the case in the campaign for the elections to the 47-member SMC. The polls are slated for February 12.
The college student, a resident of Bhaktinagar in Siliguri, had been abducted on January 13. The arrested trio are Ratan Pal, Tapan Das and Raja Singh.
Pal and Das are known faces of Trinamul and have been campaigning for the party’s candidate in ward 24, Pratul Chakraborty.
Sources said the student used to visit an internet café owned by Pal at Fuleswari. “Seeing his lifestyle, Pal had realised that the teenager is from an affluent family. On January 13, he gave the teenager a drink spiked with sedatives at the café. When the student became unconscious, Pal, along with Das and Singh, took him to an apartment in Deshbandhupara and kept him there,” said a police source.
The following day, the teenager’s family informed the police about the missing teen. The same day, the accused called up the teen’s relatives and demanded Rs 40 lakh for his release. The family soon filed an abduction complaint with the police.
“Police checked CCTV footage of certain locations and the call lists of some people, including the student. The investigators could finally zero in on the kidnappers and they were arrested yesterday. During interrogation, they revealed everything. The student was rescued from the apartment,” said a police officer.
The chief judicial magistrate’s court in Jalpaiguri remanded Pal and Das in police custody for four days. The police said the duo didn’t have a criminal past.
Asked about the arrests, Trinamul candidate Chakraborty said: “They were with Trinamul…. but the law will take its own course. It is unfortunate.”
Papiya Ghosh, the president of Darjeeling (plains) district of Trinamul, said the arrested trio should be punished. She went to the teenager’s house and met the family members on Friday, a move which observers feel was to control the damage.
Later, Gosh told newspersons that Pal and Das did not have any connection with Trinamul.
“There is no question of expelling them from Trinamul as they are not members of the party. During the poll campaign, some people join the candidates for their own interests. We have asked all our candidates to be on alert so that such people do not get a chance to use Trinamul’s flag,” said Ghosh.
Opposition parties, however, claimed that Trinamul was trying a hush-up.
“People of Siliguri should take the incident seriously and refrain from voting Trinamul,” said senior CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya who is also in poll fray.
In the afternoon, supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha — the youth front of the BJP — staged a protest at Hashmi Chowk in the city.
Shankar Ghosh, the Siliguri BJP MLA, said: “The abduction of a boy for ransom has exposed the intentions of a section of Trinamul leaders. The police should find out whether any other leader of the party is involved in the crime.” The BJP has fielded Ghosh in ward 24.
