The assistant sub-inspector of police and the CID’s bomb squad constable along with two others, arrested in the sensational Rs 1 crore highway robbery case were sent to jail custody for five days by the court today as the police didn’t forward remand prayer for them.

Two others, Mrityunjoy Sarkar, an already dismissed policeman and Subhas Sharma, a migrant youth lodged in Ashis Market area in Durgapur Steel Township were granted remand for five days. The Commissioner, Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate meanwhile issued a suspension order for Asim Chakraborty, the ASI of Durgapur PS booked in the robbery case as he had already stayed more than 24 hours in police lockup.

Advertisement

Asim, the CID’s constable along with four others were arrested by the police during consecutive raids since Thursday late evening after receiving a complaint of road robbery near DVC Mor here on the NH-19. A Delhi-based railway contractor Mukesh Chawla complained that his car was intercepted by two police vehicles near DVC Mor on the highway and the cops accompanied by some youths had looted Rs 1.01 cr in cash from his possession on Thursday evening. He claimed that he’s on his way to Kolkata from his liaison associate’s place at Sitarampur in Asansol to make some payments.

Senior police officials said, “Primary investigations suggest Mrityunjoy had a key role in the robbery.” The police however couldn’t recover a single penny from the arrested persons in last 48 hours. The police also are yet to ascertain why Chawla, the victim railway contractor first had forwarded the sum in phases through RTGS and NEFT to some companies in Nadia and Asansol and then was carrying the amount in cash from Sitarampur to Kolkata by road?

Also, the police are yet to establish the arrested ASI’s ‘definite’ presence on the PO (place of occurrence), though it’s evident from his cell phone records that he’d received three calls from the PO. The police have found a definite dereliction of duty on his part. As the police didn’t seek remand for him, it’s assumed that his possible involvement in the crime might be lighter.

The police suspect the role of Chawla’s liaison partner in the robbery and the deputy commissioner of police, Abhishek Gupta said today, “We’ve almost detected the direct involvement of the dismissed policeman. He had a close rapport with the victim’s liaison partner and he acted as a bridge link with the on-duty cops. We’ve raided four more locations in search of some other persons involved in the robbery, but none else could be traced as yet.”