Malda murders: Two more held, arms worth Rs 20 lakh recovered

MALDA: The Malda murders case took a new turn on Sunday with two more arrests and the recovery of a huge cache of arms that included five 7mm pistols, 80 rounds of cartridges and 10 magazines.
Asif Mohammad, during his interrogation on Saturday, revealed the names of two of his friends, Sabir Ali and Md Mahfuj. Raiding their hideouts late at night, police recovered the arms.It is learnt that they had kept the arms at Asif’s behest. Both Sabir and Mahfuj were arrested and a separate case under the Arms Act was lodged against the trio.
Asif had drugged and drowned his father, mother, sister and grandmother following a property dispute and buried their bodies in the basement of their home. His elder brother Arif, who was also drugged, had a lucky escape.
Malda additional superintendent of police Aneesh Sarkar said: “We had come to know that Asif had procured arms and about seven days back and he gave it to two of his friends. Apparently there is no connection between these arms and the murders. We have registered a separate case under the Arms Act against the trio.”
Police are yet to find out why Asif had procured arms costing nearly Rs 20 lakh. His connection with any big racket or the dark web was also being probed. All three were produced in court on Sunday and Asif was taken in police custody for 12 days under sections 302, 201 and 307 IPC while Mahfuj and Sabir were taken in police custody for 5 days.
“There was certainly an issue of money as Asif demanded huge sums from his father. We have recovered Rs 2.20 lakh from his custody. He also had a knack for crypto-currency, although we have not found any transaction yet,” Sarkar said. Arif is also under the scanner for hiding the murders for so long.