Two persons, who were arrested by the CBI yesterday in connection with the murder of BJP worker Dharma Mandal at Hridaypur in Chapra on 14 May, have been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

The CBI officials today produced the accused before the chief judicial magistrate in charge of Krishnagar district judges’ court, Ms Poonam Singh where the magistrate on hearing pleas remanded them in judicial custody. The duo will again be produced before the court on 10 September, said Sumit Bit, additional public prosecutor.

A team of CBI officials who are camping in Nadia for the past three days had gone to Hridaypur to conduct a probe into the murder of a BJP worker. But, the team faced stiff resistance from the villagers as they were carrying out searches at various locations.

The angered villagers had thrown mud before the officials and ransacked one of their vehicles. They also punctured the tyres of the vehicle. Later, Chapra police and CRPF jawans on hearing the incident reached the site and rescued the CBI officials.

According to sources, the situation turned so serious that the CBI officials contacted BSF officials at Simanagar and asked them to be prepared. Later, the CBI officials arrested Bijay Ghosh and Ashima Ghosh, both are TMC panchayat members of Hridaypur gram panchayat in connection with the murder of Dharma Mandal.

Earlier, the Chapra police arrested eight persons in connection with the case, but the CBI arrested the duo based on the investigation whose names were not in the FIR list, sources said. Mandal was brutally attacked by a group of local residents on 14 May and he succumbed to his injuries on 16 May in a Kolkata hospital.

These were the first arrests by the CBI since the Kolkata High Court asked it to probe cases of post-poll violence in West Bengal. The CBI team investigating post-poll violence across Bengal arrived at the hut of Kakali Kshetrapal who was butchered to death in Jamalpur in Burdwan East by some armed goons allegedly backed by the Trinamul Congress on 3 May-the immediate next day the Assembly Election results were declared this year.

On 3 May, Jamalpur actually recorded three successive deaths of Kakoli, Bibhas Bag and Shahjahan Shah due to post-poll violence. Kakoli though was a CPI-M supporter, her son Ashis holds as the chief of BJP’s local organisational Shaktikendra. Bag, Shah were TMC supporters.

The four-member CBI team today met the family members of Kakoli, which the TMC criticised. The officials talked with Anil Kshetrapal-deceased’s husband and Ashis at length. Also, the team talked to Mamata Kshetrapal- a neighbour housewife who lodged the police complaint after the incident.

She said: “I wasn’t here at the time of the incident. The police had taken me to the PS and asked me to sign some papers.” Anil said: “Armed miscreants attacked our house in search of Ashis. They chopped my leg and when Kakoli came helter-skelter, they caught her and in front of my eyes, they butchered her.”

Jharna Bag, widow of slain Bibhas said: “My husband was enjoying with his friends after the party’s victory in the election when some BJP cadres thrashed him to death. I have also appealed for an independent probe but the
officials didn’t visit me today.”