CBI arrests TMC supporter in Congress councillor's murder

We had brought him from there to our base camp here for questioning yesterday evening, he said.Earlier, at least five people were arrested by the police in connection with the murder.Of them, the CBI has got custody of three persons Naren, Asik Khan and Kalebar Singh arrested earlier by the SIT formed by the state government to investigate the case.Kandu was shot dead near his residence on March 13 while out on a walk.

The CBI on Wednesday arrested one person, known as a Trinamool Congress supporter, in connection with the murder of Congress councillor Tapan Kandu in West Bengal's Purulia district last month, a senior officer said.

Satyaban Pramanik, a non-teaching staff at a primary school, was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday after he was interrogated for almost an entire day by officers of the central agency.

This is CBI's first arrest after taking over the case from the state police on the directions of the Calcutta High Court.

"We have found discrepancies in his answers. There are still several grey areas that he requires to answer. We are questioning him," the CBI officer said.

He said Pramanik is known in the locality as a close associate of Kandu's elder brother Naren who was arrested by the police in the same case earlier.

Pramanik who also runs an eatery was detained by the police earlier as well but was released after his health condition deteriorated.

"Since then he has been staying at his residence in Hesahatu village near the Jharkhand border. We had brought him from there to our base camp here for questioning yesterday evening," he said.

Earlier, at least five people were arrested by the police in connection with the murder.

Of them, the CBI has got custody of three persons — Naren, Asik Khan and Kalebar Singh — arrested earlier by the SIT formed by the state government to investigate the case.

Kandu was shot dead near his residence on March 13 while out on a walk. He had won from ward number 2 of Jhalda Municipality for the fourth time in the civic polls held in February and was a popular leader in the area.

The murder happened weeks after the elections to Jhalda Municipality resulted in a hung house, with the Congress and Trinamool Congress having won five seats each and Independents securing two seats. However, the TMC has formed the board.

A key eyewitness in the murder, Kandu's friend Niranjan Baishnab, was found dead at his residence last week.