Kolkata: A Booth Level Officer (BLO) and another man have been arrested in connection with the brutal murder and dismemberment of a 36-year-old man in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, police said on Saturday.
The victim, Nasir Ali (36), a resident of Papila in Baduria, had been missing since the evening of February 9 after receiving a phone call from a person claiming to be an Assistant Returning Officer (ARO). The caller allegedly asked him to urgently meet the BLO with photocopies of his Aadhaar and voter identity cards in connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
According to the police, Nasir left his home after the call but never returned. When his family attempted to contact him, his phone was switched off. A missing person complaint was subsequently lodged at the Baduria police station.
The next day, Nasir’s motorcycle and shoes were recovered from a canal in the Chatra area, raising suspicion. As the investigation progressed, police arrested Rizwan Hasan Mandal alias Montu, the BLO of booth number 22 in Papila, and another accused, Sagar Gain.
Following sustained interrogation and extensive search operations under various bridges and along canals in the Baduria area, police recovered parts of Nasir’s dismembered body packed in three separate bags from a canal on Friday night. However, his head is yet to be traced.
The accused were produced before the Basirhat Sub-Divisional Court, which remanded them to five days of police custody.
Police said the motive behind the gruesome crime is yet to be ascertained, and further investigation is underway to recover the remaining body parts.
Nasir’s wife, Beauty Khatun Bibi, told local reporters that her husband had no known enmity with anyone. “Rizwan was my husband’s friend. I knew him as a friend of my husband. I want strict punishment for those who subjected him to such brutal torture,” she said.
With IANS inputs