Darjeeling: Two persons were arrested in connection with the loot of tea garden wages worth Rs 26 lakh.
On July 22, the amount withdrawn from a bank for paying wages at the Thanjhora tea estate was looted at gun point on the PWD road between Ghoshpukur and Kharibari near Siliguri. The vehicle in which the money was being transported from the bank to the tea garden was blocked by another vehicle.
Two persons dressed in army fatigue got down and fired a round in the air. Four others carrying guns approached the vehicle on bikes. They then took the cash filled trunk. Dividing into two groups, they fled in two different directions, towards Khoribari and Ghoshpukur.
An FIR was lodged at the Kharibari police station. Police examined CCTV footages of the area, interrogated locals and finally seized a car and a bike. Finally, one Sadhan Das of Phansidewa was arrested from Naxalbari. Another Anil Tudu of Thanjhora tea estate was arrested from Haribhita area of Kharibari. Tudu had also worked as a driver in the Thanjhora tea estate 10 years ago. "The two were produced before the court and remanded in police custody for 14 days," stated Sudip Roy Basunia, Assistant Public Prosecutor, Siliguri.