Kolkata, Jan 3 The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday said it has arrested another key accused in the murder of BJP leader Bijoy Krishna Bhunia in East Midnapore district of West Bengal in May 2023.
The NIA in a statement said Mohan Mondal had been arrested in Pune in Maharashtra. He has been absconding since the murder of Bhunia in May last year,
“Mohan Mondal was nabbed by the NIA on Thursday in connection with the May 2023 case, in which Bijoy Krishna Bhunia was kidnapped and killed in Goramahal village in Moyna in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal. Mohan Mandal had non-bailable warrants issued against him after he had absconded,” the NIA statement read.
As per the NIA statement, Mondal is the third accused to be nabbed in the case, the other two being Naba Kumar Mondal and Suvendu Bhowmick, who were arrested earlier. Naba Kumar Mondal was arrested in November last year.
NIA registered the case after taking over the investigation from the Moyna police on the directions of the Calcutta High Court through an order in April 2024.
"NIA is continuing with its investigation as part of its efforts to unveil the whole conspiracy behind the abduction and murder of Bhunia and to arrest the remaining absconders," the statement read.
Bhunia was murdered at Moyna in May last year. Initially, Calcutta High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha ordered a sub-divisional police officer (SDPO)-level probe in the matter.
However, later there were allegations against the state police of a flawed investigation into the matter.
The first complaint was that the event of recovery of bombs from the place of the murder was not mentioned in the charge sheet.
The accusations against the state police were also that their investigating officials had not included the names of a number of accused in the chargesheet.
Bhunia was the booth president of BJP at Moyna. He was picked up by goons allegedly close to the former Trinamool Congress legislator from Moyna Sangram Kumar Dolui and then hacked to death.
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) also took suo motu cognizance in the matter.
The then NCSC Chairman Arun Halder, at that point of time, visited Moyna and claimed that the murder of Bhunia is proof of how the state government had failed to ensure the security of the Scheduled Castes who constitute 22 per cent of the total voters in the state.
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