Kolkata, Sep 19 (IANS) Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) state secretary Ashiq Iqbal has been arrested with bundles of fake notes and firearms, police said on Saturday. He was arrested late on Friday night from Hariharpara in Murshidabad district during naka checking.
Iqbal was driving a car from which bundles of fake notes and a pair of firearms were recovered. He is the state secretary of MLA Humayun Kabir’s AJUP. Officers of Hariharpara police station arrested the leader and another person on charges of possessing fake notes and illegal weapons.
Ashiq, a resident of Kebalrampur in Hariharpara, had unsuccessfully contested from the Baharampur constituency in this year’s Assembly elections. Police also arrested Bablu Sheikh, a resident of Shahajadpur.
Police said a special team from Hariharpara police station was conducting naka checking in the Garinama area late on Friday night. At that time, personnel became suspicious after seeing a Bolero car. When they stopped and searched the car, they found 108 fake Rs 500 notes hidden inside, worth Rs 54,000. Two firearms and four rounds of bullets were also recovered. Police then arrested Ashiq and Bablu.
On Saturday, police produced the two accused before the Murshidabad District Court. Police have started an investigation to find out where the fake notes and firearms came from, where they were being taken, and for what purpose they were kept. Initially, police suspect a connection with a gang involved in arms and fake notes smuggling. Hariharpara police station has applied for seven-day custody of the arrested to trace other gang members.
AJUP founder and president Humayun Kabir alleged that “the BJP is using the police as a broker to make the elections free from competition. If people get a chance to vote, public opinion will go against the BJP. The BJP has understood this. The BJP is doing this in a planned manner so that people get scared and do not vote, so that opposition candidates cannot campaign or contest.”
On the other hand, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Rejinagar Assembly constituency, where a bypoll is scheduled on October 6, Shankharav Sarkar said, “The issue is not who is Humayun Kabir, who brought fake money, who planted the bomb. This is a fight to establish good governance. A fight to bring industry to the Rejinagar industrial area. People are looking at that. The BJP has won in Rejinagar. It is just a matter of time for the result to come out. The BJP does not bother about these minor issues.”
–IANS
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