Hooghly Police on Tuesday arrested the officer in-charge of District Intelligence Branch in connection with his alleged involvement in putting up posters on “cut money” against Sreerampur MP Kalyan Banerjee. This takes the total number of arrests to three in the case.
The officer, Samir Sarkar, was arrested after his interrogation for the last two days. Earlier, his driver Amiya Khamrui and Mustafa Khan had been arrested.
The posters accusing Banerjee of accepting “cut money” from people were allegedly put up on the night of July 29. As per police sources, on receiving complaints, they initiated a probe and found out that the posters were put up by two men using an SUV. CCTV cameras captured the SUV number and arrested its driver, Khamrui.
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“Sarkar has been arrested in an ongoing probe. Whatever we have to say, we will say it in court,” said a police officer.
Sarkar, however, claimed that he was framed. He said he had worked hard to ensure Banerjee’s victory in the recent Lok Sabha polls. He was the officer in-charge of Jangipara in Banerjee’s constituency.
“I had worked hard for Banerjee during the elections. Perhaps, this is how he wants to reward me,” Sarkar told reporters while he was being taken to court. He has been booked under various IPC sections.
While speaking to reporters Banerjee said, “All I want to say is there is a larger conspiracy behind it. A few criminals with police officials were conspiring to hand over the entire Hooghly district to the BJP.”