Six arrested in jute mill CEO murder case

Six workers of North Brook Jute Mill have been arrested for yesterday's killing of its CEO H K Maheswari, with the management putting up a suspension of work notice on the gate today citing labour unrest.

Superintendent of Police Sunil Chowdhury said that two workers were arrested yesterday and two during the day for the lynching of the CEO on the mill premises at Bhadreswar in West Bengal's Hooghly district. The SP said, of the 12 persons named in the FIR filed by the company, six - Md Azharuddin, Bikash Tanti, Swapan Singh, Mukunda Gupta, Md Aslam and Rabindra Choube - have so far been arrested.

More arrests would be made as the FIR also mentioned 200 unnamed people who were responsible for the killing, he said. Reacting to the incident, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that violence in the name of trade unionism would not be tolerated.

Replying to a question in the Assembly, Banerjee assured the captains of industry that the guilty in yesterday's killing would be punished and she would do everything to ensure that justice was done. "There is no place for violence in a democracy," she said, holding sections of jute mill workers belonging to CITU and BMS responsible for the killing.

The government would not tolerate violence in the name of trade unionism, she said and added that the police had been asked to take action. The 60-year-old Maheswari was lynched by agitated factory workers yesterday when he rejected their demand for increase in weekly working hours so that they were paid more.