Kolkata police sergeant Ayan Gupta and civic volunteer Twinkle Das have been arrested by Jharkhand Police in connection with the murder of businessman Nikhar Sablok, according to an announcement by the Jharkhand Police on Friday. The arrests followed questioning at the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar and have taken the number of arrests in the case to eight.
Gupta was posted at the Beleghata traffic guard, while Das lives in the Chawlpatti Road area of Kolkata and worked as a civic volunteer. The two were summoned to the detective department at Lalbazar on Thursday, where officers from Jharkhand questioned them until the evening. The questioning was videographed, according to police sources cited in the report.
Jharkhand Police said on Friday morning that both had been arrested after the questioning. The arrests were made as part of the investigation into Sablok’s killing in the Chandil police station area of Jharkhand’s Seraikela-Kharsawan district.
Sablok was shot on August 24 near a hotel beside National Highway 33 in the Chandil area. Police said the attackers fired nine rounds. Sablok sustained gunshot wounds to his shoulder, back and neck and was taken in critical condition to a hospital in Jamshedpur, where doctors declared him dead.
The initial investigation indicated that the killing may have resulted from business rivalry. Police later said the murder had been carried out as a contract killing, with an alleged payment of Rs 15 lakh to the shooter. These claims remain part of the ongoing investigation.
Jharkhand Police have conducted searches at several locations in Jharkhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Six people had earlier been arrested in connection with the case, including people whom investigators described as professional killers. The investigation subsequently identified a suspect who allegedly maintained contact with Gupta. Police sources described that suspect as one of the alleged killers.
Investigators also found that the suspect had been in contact with Das, according to the report. A Jharkhand Police special investigation team travelled to Kolkata to examine those links and question the two people at Lalbazar. Police sources said Gupta and Das avoided answering several questions during the interrogation, after which the decision to arrest them was taken.
The arrests bring a serving Kolkata traffic police officer and a civic volunteer into an inter-state murder investigation being conducted by Jharkhand Police. The allegations against both will be tested through the continuing investigation and the legal process. The special investigation team is expected to continue examining the alleged communications and the wider conspiracy behind the businessman’s killing.
