West Begal: Contractor held for hiring killer to murder Panihati councillor

KOLKATA/HARINGHATA: A Panihati Municipality contractor was arrested on Tuesday for hiring a killer to gun down Trinamool Congress councillor Anupam Dutta.
Sanjib Pandit, alias Bapi, was picked up from a hideout in East Burdwan’s Kalna. Police said Sanjib had paid the hired killer — Amit Pandit alias Sambhu, who is also his relative — Rs 4 lakh to murder Dutta. Sanjib will be produced in a Barrackpore court on Wednesday, they added.
Police had earlier arrested Amit after locals smoked him out from bushes where he was hiding, unable to flee after the murder.
According to police, this wasn’t the first time Sanjib had engaged Amit to kill a person. On December 24, 2021, Sanjib had engaged Amit to kill his friend Ziarul Mondal in Nadia’s Gayeshpur over some rivalry, police said. But Haque survived despite being hit by a bullet in the head. “After interrogating Amit, we came to know about the involvement of Sanjib, who also supplied the firearm to kill the councillor,” an officer said.
According to a police source, Sanjib — a resident of Agarpara’s Mahajatinagar and contractor of PWD department in Panihati Municipality — had gone into hiding in Kalna’s Simlan village on Saturday, a day before Dutta’s murder. Police detained Prasenjit Pandit, who gave shelter to Sanjib.
Police suspect a bitter rivalry over a dispute involving contracts of local PWD work could have led to the murder. “During investigation, we came to know about the direct involvement of Sanjib in the councillor’s murder, following which we arrested him. He will be produced in a Barrackpore court on Wednesday,” said Barrackpore police commissioner Manoj Verma.
Dutta’s wife Meenakshi said: “I have seen CCTV footage of a person firing at my husband. It appears to be a well-planned conspiracy that cannot be executed without the support of local people. I want a CID probe to unearth the truth.”
Amit’s transition from a band musician to a contract killer has left people of his native Mollabelia in Haringhata stunned. His sister Aparna said: “He never came home. And when he did, he would never say what he did, where he stayed.”