KOLKATA: A special team of Bengal Police arrested former Panihati Municipality chairman Somnath Dey in Bengaluru in the early hours of Thursday for his alleged role in the hurried cremation of the RG Kar rape and murder victim and the alleged destruction of evidence.Dey had been absconding, repeatedly changing locations and using multiple phone numbers after Khardah police station registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by the victim’s family on Aug 10.Dey’s name was found on the cremation ground requisition documents. Police will bring him to Bengal on transit remand, produce him before the Barrackpore court and then take him to Khardah police station for questioning to probe the alleged conspiracy and the instructions under which he acted.The victim’s family alleged that Dey misused his administrative power and influence to bypass legal and social procedures and arrange a hurried cremation, with the aim of destroying crucial evidence and disrupting the murder investigation.The Aug 10 FIR followed a directive from Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari to the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate during an Aug 9 memorial meeting at Panihati to examine the events at the cremation ground.Dey is the third person arrested in connection with the FIR. Former Panihati MLA Nirmal Ghosh was arrested at a hotel near Puri in Odisha, while former councillor and neighbour Sanjib Mukhopadhyay was arrested at a house in Chinar Park, Kolkata.Both were granted bail in this case, although Ghosh remains in jail in connection with a separate case.
