Kolkata, May 26 (IANS) Prashant Barman, the long-absconding former Block Development Officer (BDO) of Raiganj Block in North Dinajpur district of West Bengal, who was accused in the case of the abduction and murder of gold merchant Swapan Kamilya at Salt Lake’s Dattabad in Kolkata last year, has finally been arrested.

Burman’s arrest, which happened in New Town on the northern outskirts of Kolkata around midnight on Monday, was coincidental and dramatic.

According to information passed down by the Bidhannagar City Police, under whose jurisdiction New Town comes, Burman, while driving his car in a totally intoxicated state at night, had hit a two-wheeler rider.

The two-wheeler rider somehow stood up and blocked the path of Burman’s vehicle and asked him to get out of the vehicle. Instead of being apologetic, Burman, in a totally intoxicated state, started abusing him.

Soon, some local people assembled at the place and Burman started abusing them as well. One of the local persons assembled there, recorded Burman’s entire abusive behaviour and later circulated it on social media, the authenticity of which could not be ascertained by IANS.

As the situation became more tense at the spot, the cops from the local Ecopark Police Station arrived. They detained Burman and took him to the police station. Later, he was arrested and is likely to be presented at a lower court.

Burman, a close confidant of some leaders in the previous ruling party, Trinamool Congress, had been absconding for a long time since he was accused of the murder of the gold merchant Swapan Kamilya at Salt Lake’s Dattabad in October last year.

On October 29 last year, the body of Kamilya was recovered from near a canal at Dattabad, Salt Lake. Burman was accused of abducting and killing him.

The accused BDO even managed to obtain an anticipatory bail from a sub-divisional court in the matter. The Bidhannagar City Police had then approached the Calcutta High Court opposing the anticipatory bail. The High Court rejected the anticipatory bail order and ordered him to surrender by December 22, 2025.

However, when he did not do so, the Bidhannagar Court issued an arrest warrant against him. In that situation, Prashant approached the Supreme Court. A bench of Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Vijay Bishnoi ordered him to surrender by January 23, 2026. Since then, Burman had been on the run.

–IANS

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