Sandeshkhali case: Murder complaint filed a day after fatal crash of key witness

A murder complaint was lodged on Thursday at the Rajbari police outpost in Nazat in connection with the fatal crash that killed the younger son of key witness Bholanath Ghosh and the driver of his private car.

The complaint names eight accused, including Alim Molla and Nazrul Molla. According to sources, Bholanath Ghosh, accompanied by his lawyer Kalicharan Mondal, visited the outpost on Thursday afternoon and formally submitted the complaint. However, it is still unclear whether the name of jailed former Sandeshkhali strongman Sheikh Shahjahan figures in the FIR. Minakhan SDPO Kaushik Basak declined to comment but confirmed that a case has been registered.

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Sk Shahjahan is an accused in a 2022 rape case in which Bholanath is a prosecution witness. On Wednesday, 10 December, Bholanath and his son Satyajit Ghosh, were travelling to the Basirhat court where he was scheduled to depose in the case. While on Basanti Highway, their car was run over by a speeding truck. Satyajit and the car’s driver, 30-year-old Shahnur Alam, died on the spot, while Bholanath sustained injuries. Soon after the incident, Bholanath’s elder son, Biswajit Ghosh, alleged that the crash was not accidental but a “pre-planned hit” orchestrated from jail by Shahjahan.

He claimed that his father had been under pressure for months and that the attack was carried out on Shahjahan’s instructions. However, no written complaint was filed on Wednesday night. Nearly 24 hours after the crash, the Ghosh family approached the police on Thursday. Sources said that Alim Molla of Laukhali was allegedly driving the truck at the time of the incident. His name appears in the complaint, along with that of another man, Nazrul Molla, who allegedly helped Alim flee after the collision.

When contacted, a senior officer of the Basirhat district police neither confirmed nor denied whether Shahjahan’s name had been included in the complaint, only saying that the investigation was at a “sensitive stage”.