Kolkata, March 24 : The prime suspect in West Bengal’s Bogtui village carnage, Trinamool Congress leader Anarul Hussain was arrested on Thursday, shortly after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the trouble spot in Birbhum district and instructed the police to nab him at any cost. Banerjee during the day flew to the village under Rampurhat block – about 200 km from Kolkata – by helicopter and interacted with the survivors of the carnage, assuring strong p tive action against the culprits while ordering the police to ensure the protection of the lives of people against any recurrence of such attack. Banerjee also instructed the police to arrest Trinamool Congress block president of Rampurhat, Anarul Hussain, who allegedly led the mob that burnt alive eight persons, including six women and two children. “I want Anarul to give himself up to the police. if he doesn’t, the police must arrest him,… get him,” she said. Sometime after Banerjee left the village, Anarul was arrested. The chief minister announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the next of the kin of the victims and between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 2 lakh each for rebuilding the damaged houses. Those injured will be provided Rs 50,000 each, and the government would pay for their treatment. Interacting with the survivors of the carnage, Banerjee condemned both the murder of Trinamool Congress leader Bhadu Sheikh on Monday evening and the torching of ten houses in retaliation in which eight people were killed. There was negligence on the part of the police station inspector-in-charge and the district superintendent of police or else such carnage could have been avoided, she stated. Banerjee said there was a largescale conspiracy behind the incident and directed the police to slap criminal cases so that the offenders couldn’t get out of jail. The Chief Minister said she never imagined that such gruesome murders could happen and added that “For some people, it is happening.” Banerjee also talked to Mihilal Sheikh, whose entire family perished in the fire. Mihilal and his elder brother Banirul fled to escape the killers. Mihilal, 40, had to run at least 12 km through paddy fields, along with Banirul, after their homes were set ablaze at Bogtui, only two kms from Rampurhat town, between Monday night and early Tuesday. Mihilal, a grocer, lost eight family members, including his wife, eight-year-old daughter and mother, in the carnage. The siblings took refuge at the home of Mihilal’s in-laws at Gopaljal village near Sainthia, 36km away from Bogtui, on Tuesday night. Mihilal and Banirul had to run to reach a relative’s house at Margram and then walked 6 km to Bishnupur. Finally, they took a battery-rickshaw to reach Murshidabad’s Sherpur, from where they travelled to Gopaljal by bus. The eight deceased are Sheli Bibi (Mihilal’s wife), Tuli Khatun (his daughter), Nurnehar Bibi (his mother who Mihilal claimed was a 75-year-old widow), Rupali Bibi (his elder sister), Jahanara Bibi (his sister-in-law), Lili Khatun (his niece), Kazi Sajidur Rahman (Lili’s husband) and Mina Bibi, 40 (Mihilal’s sister-in-law). Barring Mina, the other seven were attacked when they took shelter at the home of one Sona Sheikh to escape from a killer squad. PC ARN SSP
