kolkata: The Anti-Rowdy Squad (ARS) of Kolkata Police has arrested seven people, including the prime accused in Behala clash, Somnath Banerjee alias Baban Banerjee on Sunday morning.
The accused persons were hiding in a house at Joypur in Howrah rural area from where they were picked up. The accused persons were produced at the Alipore court on Sunday and remanded to police custody till April 20.
On April 12 night, a clash broke out between two groups over control of a fair in Behala Charaktala area. It was alleged that the group-led by Banerjee armed with firearms and other weapons had attacked the other group and got involved in a clash at the Charaktala area in Behala.
Local people alleged that during the clash several rounds of bullets were fired. Banerjee, who was a Trinamool Youth Congress leader of the area, had fled after the incident.
On Thursday, Banerjee was expelled by the Trinamool Congress leadership. On the same day, a group of people went to the house of MLA of Behala East, Ratna Chattaopadhyay's house to talk with her about the issue. But, Chattopadhyay had asked Banerjee's family members to direct him to surrender before the cops. Chattopadhyay was also seen saying that she went to the area on Wednesday and came to know about the malpractices of Banerjee.
Meanwhile, police started a massive manhunt to nab the accused persons, including Banerjee. Initially, cops faced trouble as they kept on changing their locations. Banerjee and his associates had also hired a car and snatched the mobile phone of the driver in order to use it to evade police. Banerjee had also procured a new mobile SIM suspecting that cops might try to track his mobile number's tower location. Later, they again hired a small goods vehicle and went to Odisha. But due to financial constraint, they again came back to Bengal.