Kolkata, June 25 (IANS) West Bengal Police stated on Thursday morning that three people have been held since Wednesday night in connection with the murder of a minor girl, Tamanna Khatun, at Kaliganj in Nadia district of West Bengal in June last year. With the arrest of these three people, the total number of arrests in the matter has increased to 16.

Significantly, five arrests were made in the last 24 hours from Tuesday night to Thursday morning. First on Tuesday night, two absconding accused persons in the case namely Sabit Sheikh and Ziarul Sheikh were arrested.

Then again between Wednesday night and Thursday morning three other absconding accused persons namely Ismail Sheikh, Hafizul Sheikh and Minarul Sheikh were arrested.

A state police officer said that the trio had been arrested from Gurugram in Haryana and they escaped there after the police started an investigation in the murder of the child.

The trio is being brought back to Kolkata on transit remand and will be presented at a district court in Nadia later in the day. The public prosecutor will seek their police custody, the state police officer said.

The minor girl from Kaliganj in Nadia district, who belonged to a family of CPI(M) supporters, was killed in a blast on June 23 last year.

On that day, the result of the bypolls for Kaliganj Assembly Constituency in the district had been announced, which marked a landslide victory for the then Trinamool Congress candidate Alifa Ahmed.

Some Trinamool Congress activists reportedly hurled crude bombs at the residence of the minor girl during a victory procession, killing Tamanna Khatun on the spot.

Tamanna’s mother Sabina Iyasmin Sheikh contested as a CPI(M) candidate from Kaliganj in the recently-concluded West Bengal Assembly polls, but was defeated by Trinamool Congress’ Alifa Ahmed, who got elected for the second-consecutive term.

Incidentally, West Bengal Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari assured Tamanna’s mother of justice during a meeting with her on Tuesday evening.

Immediately after that, the police sprang into action and in the last 24 hours a total of five people were arrested.

–IANS

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