Man held on charge of murder of hijacked truck driver

Police said the arrests were made after the two heavy vehicles were found in Malda on Thursday and 20 tonnes of iron scraps seized from Samserganj in neighbouring Murshidabad district.

"We have arrested the driver of one of the two trucks for his involvement in the murder and hijack incident and recovered Rs 51,000 from his possession," SDPO, Kalyani, Subhankar Bhattacharjee told reporters here.

Police had swung into action after the body of one of the hijacked truck drivers was found on the side of NH 34 at Shimurali in Nadia district on June 27 while the truck's helper was found in an injured condition.

The hijacked vehicles were located with the help of GPS device fitted on trucks.

The arrested driver, identified as Mithu Mahato of Chhapra in Bihar, was produced at a local court and remanded to custody.

Investigations revealed the two trucks had started from Liluah in Howrah for Agartala on June 26. And as the two vehicles were passing by Kalyani, the truck driven by Mithu overtook the other one and intercepted near Shimurali under Chakdaha Police station.

He then allegedly attacked the slain driver Bidyut and helper Sanjay with sharpe weapons, slit him to death while Sanjay suffered serious injuries.

Assuming the both are killed, the hijackers left the spot with both the trucks.