‘Arrested financial adviser stayed with MLA for 5 yrs’

Malda/Raiganj: The man arrested from Malda’s English Bazar happens to be one of the two persons BJP MLA Debendra Nath Roy’s widow has named in her police complaint.

Sources in the CID investigation team hinted that Niloy Singha could provide important leads in the case because locals said Singha had stayed with CPM-turned-BJP MLA Roy at his Balia home for at least five years.

The deceased MLA had another thing in common, other than sharing his home, with Singha. Roy was closely associated with Barabar Balia Agro Cooperative Society at Mahendraganj in Uttar Dinajpur while Singha ran an agency giving financial advice to societies under Raiganj Cooperative Bank.

Police are also looking for another person named in the FIR, Mamud Ali, a resident of Malda’s Samsi, who worked as a financial agent. Ali has gone underground after the MLA’s body was found hanging in front of a closed cellphone shop near his home on Monday. CID sleuths are probing this aspect and piecing together the reasons that might have brought the two close to each other.

After being picked up from his English Bazar home, Singha said: “I have no hand in the MLA’s death. Mamud had taken money from the deceased MLA.”

Singha’s statement corroborates part of the complaint that the MLA’s widow, Chandrima Roy, made to police.

Balia residents recalled a financial scam at Barabar Balia Agro Cooperative Society that ran under the MLA’s guidance. According to sources, Singha, who worked as an advisor to cooperative societies, helped Roy complete the audit long overdue at the Barabar society. Sources hinted that Roy made peace over the issue with the help of Singha and Mamud. Singha used to live at Roy’s house then.

A CID team visited both Raiganj Cooperative Bank and the Barabar society twice in the day and seized some financial documents.

All the developments, however, had no effect on BJP supporters who agitated across north Bengal districts on Tuesday, trying to fan Rajbanshi sentiments in a region where the community has a strong presence. Roy belonged to the community.

BJP supporters, led by Cooch Behar MP Nisith Pramanik, enforced a “near-shutdown” in north Bengal and closed down even post offices. They clashed with Trinamool workers in Cooch Behar, Raiganj and Alipurduar. Suspected BJP supporters also ransacked at least four buses in Cooch Behar. A BJP worker from Hemtabad, Chanchal Roy, was hospitalized after he was allegedly beaten up by a civic volunteer.

At Raiganj, Pramanik trashed the autopsy report read out by the Bengal home secretary. “It is a doctored report. It’s a cover-up bid by the state government. We don’t accept the post-mortem report. The government has failed to provide security even to an MLA. We demand a CBI investigation,” the BJP MP said.