Kolkata, Dec 16 (IANS) A lower court has come under scrutiny from the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday for granting anticipatory bail to Prashant Barman, the Block Development Officer (BDO) of Rajganj in West Bengal, who is accused in the murder of a gold trader from Duttabad in Kolkata’s Salt Lake area.

BDO Prashant is implicated in the kidnapping and murder of gold trader Swapan Kamilya.

However, BDO Prashant was granted anticipatory bail by the Barasat Court.

The Bidhannagar Police had challenged the lower court’s order in the High Court.

Allegations arose that the BDO obtained anticipatory bail from the lower court using forged documents.

During the hearing of the case on Tuesday, the public prosecutor of the lower court faced questioning from the High Court.

The High Court expressed surprise at how the Additional District Judge granted bail to the BDO based on the prosecutor’s statements, despite having the case diary readily available.

In the hearing before Justice Tirthankar Ghosh regarding the cancellation of the BDO’s bail, Prashant’s lawyer also faced questions.

On the other hand, BDO Prashant’s lawyer said that why the police filed a case for bail cancellation and why didn’t they file an application to cancel the anticipatory bail in the first place.

After the questioning, the Calcutta High Court directed the BDO’s lawyer to submit his statement in the form of an affidavit by next Friday.

The next hearing of the case is scheduled on that day.

On October 28, gold trader Swapan Kamilya was taken away from a gold shop in Duttabad area in Kolkata in a car with blue beacon in connection with the theft of gold jewellery.

Later, while filing a missing person’s diary at Bidhannagar South Police Station, the family members came to know that a person’s body was in Jatragachi area of New Town.

The family members of the deceased gold trader identified his body after seeing Swapan’s picture.

Later, a case was registered against the assailants under kidnapping and murder sections.

The family of the deceased gold trader alleged that BDO Prashant Barman is involved in the murder and the entire incident was masterminded by him.

The family of the deceased alleged that the BDO kidnapped and killed him.

During the investigation of this incident, the Bidhannagar Police arrested five persons in connection with the incident including BDO’s driver Raju Dhali, BDO’s close friend Tufan Thapa, Cooch Behar Trinamool leader Sajal Sarkar and his brother Vivekananda Sarkar.

It has been alleged that after the murder, an attempt was made to dispose of the body of the gold trader in a government car with a blue beacon.

As a result, questions began to arise about the role of the BDO in the murder since the beginning.

The police have already seized the government vehicle in which the body of the gold trader was allegedly removed.

–IANS

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