Three arrested in Bengal arson attack case

Kolkata: Seven days after the houses of 16 CPI(M) activists were set on fire in Jaynagar in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, the police finally arrested three persons on Monday.

The arson attack was mainly an outcome of a revenge-action to the assassination of local Trinamool Congress leader Saifuddin Lashkar on the same morning (November 13). A person, Sahabuddin Sheikh, was also killed in counter revenge lynching by a violent mob consisting mainly of the slain Trinamool Congress leader’s followers.

Although three persons were arrested relating to the killing of the local ruling party leader within a couple of days, those behind the counter-lynching and burning down of houses had managed to escape arrest since then. Finally, on Monday three persons were arrested in connection with the incident.

The three persons arrested in the arson case on Monday have been identified as Amanullah Jamadar, Nazrul Mondal and Akbar Dhali. They are all residents of the Doluyakhaki Village in Jaynagar, where the houses of the 16 CPI(M) activists were set on fire. All the three arrested are known in the locality as active Trinamool Congress workers.

Meanwhile, the theory of Lashkar’s death as a result of infighting in Trinamool Congress in the area has surfaced as the wife of Sahabuddin Sheikh, the one killed in counter lynching has claimed that her husband too was an active associate of Trinamool Congress. She has also demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the lynching of her husband.