Rakesh Barman , brother to main accused Raju Barman and a conduit in the murder of Vicky on April 30, arrested by police in Raiganj of West Bengal

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, May 19, 2024

In a major breakthrough in the ongoing investigation into the murder of ‘Bharat Ratna Sangha’ secretary Durga Prasanna Deb alias Vicky , a police party from Tripura in collaboration with their counterparts in West Bengal yesterday arrested Rakesh Barman , brother to main accused Raju Barman and a conduit in the crime, from Raiganj under North Dinajpur district in West Bengal. By applying various methods like feedback received from interrogation of nabbed criminals, mobile tracking and information given by West Bengal police, a team of Tripura police yesterday headed for Raiganj and nabbed Rakesh from a tin-shed house in collaboration with West Bengal police. Having caught one of the main accused the police party headed for Calcutta and after obtaining transit remand will bring Rakesh to Agartala today.

Refusing to disclose all details of the case in the interest of proper investigation a member of the special investigation team (SIT) said that Rakesh had been standing as a conduit in the Shakbagan area in the evening of April 30 to give information about Vicky and identify him to the killer. However, sources said that the fire-arm used to shoot Vicky thrice as well as the motor bike by which the killers had come to liquidate Vicky have not yet been recovered. It is also not yet known whether a ‘supari killer’ (hired assassin) had been deployed to murder Durga Prasanna Deb alias Vicky.

“ The arrest of the accused persons in the plot is a progress in the investigation ; the motor bike as well as the revolver used to fire upon Vicky will also be recovered in time; we have come to know that within a day of the murder Rakesh had left for Calcutta by flight and since then he has changed his Mobile SIM four times ; he used to make at least 10/11 calls to Agartala from ‘Whatsapp’ and not from his mobile SIM to avoid the police dragnet and cyber monitoring but every thing will now come to light and we will definitely crack the case within a short time; Raju Barman and others will also be arrested soon” said the SIT official. He refused to make any comment on whether there was any political patronage or involvement in the murder of Vicky.