Canning killings: TMC gives ex-gratia of Rs 4L each to kin of those murdered

Kolkata: A TMC delegation visited the family members of the three party workers who were killed by miscreants in Canning in South 24-Parganas on Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, police said that one of prime suspects in the case was nabbed. The delegation that meet the family members included MPs Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Mala Roy, Pratima Mondal among others.

They handed over compensation cheques of Rs 4 lakh to each of the family members of the victims.

Roy held the BJP responsible for the murder. "Miscreants owing allegiance to the BJP has murdered our party workers. We are committed to stand beside the family members of the deceased as per directions of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. We have asked the police to take suitable measures to arrest those responsible for the incident," Roy said.

Local Panchayat member Swapan Majhi, and two of his associates —Bhootnath Pramanik and Jhantu Majhi were killed after being shot at and then stabbed with sharp weapons by unidentified people in Dharmatola area of Canning in the district on July 7.

The accused, identified as Aftabuddin Sheikh, had allegedly provided information about the whereabouts of the deceased to the killers. He was arrested from Kultuli Police Station area on Friday night, a senior officer said.

The arrested person, the brother of another accused Basir Sheikh named in the FIR filed in the case, was traced through his mobile tower location and apprehended hours after Baruipur Police constituted a five-member Special Task Force to investigate the murders, the officer said.

"Aftabuddin Sheikh is one of the prime suspects. He had been providing information about Majhi from time to time since Wednesday. We are questioning him for more details," the officer added.

Majhi's brother has filed an FIR against Rafikul Sardar, Basir Sheikh, Bapi Mandal, Jalaluddin Akhand, Abahdullah Mondal and Ali Hossain Laskar, said

the officer.