Prime accused in Nimta murder case sent to 14 days police custody

A district court at Barrackpore on Sunday remanded the prime accused in the murder of a management student at Nimta in North 24 Parganas district to 14 days police custody.

The sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Barrackpore, remanded Prince Singh to police custody on a prayer by the prosecution lawyer.

Seeking the maximum police custody period of 14 days, the prosecution lawyer submitted that Singh needs to be interrogated for seeking information about the involvement of other people and recovering the weapon used in the killing of 20-year-old Debanjan Das.

Police on Saturday arrested the prime accused in the killing of Das from a hideout at Budge Budge area in South 24 Parganas district, a senior officer said.

Another person was earlier arrested for allegedly helping the prime accused in Das' killing on the intervening night of October 7-8 in the city's Nimta area during Durga Puja.

"The accused cut his hair short, shaved his moustache and shunned his spectacles in a bid to deceive police. He was hiding at a relative's house in Budge Budge. Going by the tower location of his mobile phone, we tracked his location and arrested him this afternoon," a senior officer had said.

Police is also grilling a girl, over whom the victim and the accused allegedly had a tiff.

"The victim was in an affair with the girl, who was earlier in a relationship with the prime accused. This had led to an enmity between the victim and the accused," the officer had said.

The victim's father had named the girl and the two arrested people in the FIR.

Though the killing occurred on October 7, police registered a murder case 10 days later and started a probe only after the post-mortem report suggested that he had been shot dead.