Rampurhat ACJM Court has sent Anarul Hussein to 14-day police custody in connection with the Bagtui mass killing case today. Yesterday he was arrested from Tarapith after instructions from chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

While being produced in court, Anarul Hussein, the Rampurhat Block-1 president of Trinamul Congress claimed that he is innocent and surrendered before the police as per Trinamul chairperson Mamata Banerjee’s wish. His advocate also informed the court, while seeking bail that his client has surrendered before police and should be granted bail.

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However, the government pleader, Surajit Sinha refuted his claims and claimed that the name of Anarul Hussein had surfaced after interrogating the other accused in this case and claimed that he is the mastermind behind the crime. Advocate Ashoke Banerjee also claimed that in the primary FIR, Anarul Hussein has not been named and has been arrested only after instructions from the ‘chief’. Besides, he also claimed that his client is 61-year-old and is ill.

Meanwhile, the members of Central Forensic Science Laboratory have reached Bagtui village and collected samples on the instructions of Calcutta High Court. The experts collected several samples from the house of Sona Sheikh.

The Calcutta High Court has already ordered a CBI probe and the sleuths are likely to arrive at Bagtui tomorrow.

Trinamul Congress (TMC) spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that the party will help the CBI to investigate the Bagtui deaths in accordance with the Calcutta High Court decision.

He added, “We can only say that the state government has taken adequate measures by arresting the culprits and transferring the police officers. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee herself went to the spot and spoke to the victims’ families and assured them of their safety. But I must say that the central government now are using two agencies CBI and ED against the opposition leaders. But if we find that the Centre is using CBI as a political tool, the Trinamul Congress will launch protests across the state,” said Kunal.

He said that the CBI must not digress from their investigation to include other issues or be guided by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Mr Ghosh said CBI had miserably failed to unearth the theft of Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel medallion, Tapasi Mullick’s murder and rape case and Nandigram genocide case. He also asked why no CBI investigation was initiated in Hathras and Unnao incidents, Delhi genocide and great Assam killings.