A month after BJP MLA Debendranath Roy was found hanging at a tea shop in Hemtabad in Raiganj, the West Bengal police have reportedly arrested a person named Mabud Ali on Friday.
As per the report, the accused was nabbed from Kashimbazar near Mothabari in Malda after his name featured in the suicide note allegedly found in the pocket of the deceased BJP politician. Ali has been handed over to the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) that has launched an investigation into the case.
Debendra Nath Roy was an elected representative from the reserved seat in Uttar Dinajpur. He was a former member of the CPI (M) and won from the party ticket in three consecutive terms. He had joined the BJP along with 50 other councillors in May last year. Reportedly, he had helped villagers financially through cooperative committees.
Accused allegedly took ₹1 crore from Debendranath Roy
Reportedly, the West Bengal police had earlier arrested one Niloy Singha from Malda in connection to the case. The duo was named in the suicide note and the FIR filed by Chandima Roy, the wife of Debendranath Roy. Earlier, the investigators had informed that the accused had borrowed ₹1 Crore from the BJP leader. The statesman had reported that the CID has slapped murder charges on Singha.
Niloy Singha was arrested on July 15. He has been under police custody. Singha was arrested from Mokdumpur in Malda district. The police had been under look out for Singha’s associate Mabud Ali since then.
Mabud Ali had gone into hiding
As per the report, Mabud Ali was hiding at his relative’s place near Kaliachak at Babla village. The CID investigators informed about his hideout to three police stations in the area. Reportedly, he was planning to evade arrest by changing his location.
Officer-in-charge of Mothabari police station, Bitul Pal, informed, “Soon after receiving the note from the CID, we explored all our sources. Thus, we came to know that Ali was being sheltered by one of his relatives at Babla village. He was changing his hideout every night to evade the arrest. We arrested him on Friday afternoon when he reached Kashimbazar on a two-wheeler.”
The Death of Debendranath Roy
On July 13, The West Bengal police had recovered the dead body of Debendra Nath Roy, a BJP MLA from Hematabad, in a closed tea shop in the village of Balia in Bindol Panchayat in Rajiganj. Roy was found hanging from the roof of the shop. He had been missing from the previous night.
The shop, from where the corpse of the BJP leader was retrieved, is located about 1.5km from his house. After he went missing on Sunday night, the local area was searched overnight but it was in vain. The family of the BJP MLA has alleged that it is a case of murder. Reportedly, the cops rushed to the crime scene after they received information about the incident.
War of words between BJP and TMC
While the West Bengal police has ruled out ‘foul play’, the BJP unit of West Bengal has alleged that the MLA Debendranath Roy was murdered. BJP President (North Dinajpur) stated that the ‘suicide note’ was a conspiracy by the police to protect the murderers of the deceased politician. “We are not satisfied with the probe by the CID and will stick to our demand for a CBI investigation,” he was quoted as saying.
However, Sandip Biswas, TMC spokesperson of North Dinajpur, has accused the BJP of politicising the suicide case and concluded that the CID had proved its competence by apprehending the accused. He claimed, “The BJP had tried to politicise the MLA’s death and the true nature of the party will be exposed soon.”
