West Bengal: Two cops held over missing Lalgarh arms

LALGARH: Two policemen, including a sub-inspector, have been arrested along with two villagers after 18 single-barrel guns went missing from the armoury of Lalgarh police station in Jhargram.
The guns belonged to people with arms licences who had deposited them, said a senior officer. In most cases, the deposit is done under orders issued before elections, sources said.Many owners don’t collect their arms for months.
Among those arrested are SI Tarapada Tudu, who was in charge of the armoury till January 16. Tudu’s assistant Lakshmiram Rana (37), a National Volunteer Force jawan, was also arrested. Sleuths also nailed villagers Sudhangshu Senapati and his son Dilip, suspected arms suppliers.
The missing arms were noticed by Biswajit Panja, who took charge after Tudu. He brought it to the notice of Lalgarh IC Arindam Bhattacharya, who initiated a suo motu case. An FIR was registered against Tudu and Rana, who were picked up late on Tuesday. Investigators found they had links with Sudhangshu and Dilip, who were arrested on Wednesday. All four were produced in a Jhargram court and remanded in 5-day police custody.
Jhargram SP Amit Kumar Bharat Rathore said: “We will interrogate them in our custody.”