The Trinamool Congress (TMC) party has landed up in another soup with its councilor Mohammad Iqbal, who is accused of murdering a policeman in February, claiming that his party leadership had asked him to hide and evade arrest.
Iqbal had gone abscounding ever since he was accused of murdering unarmed sub-inspector Tapas Chowdhury in a college campus violence in Kolkata last month. The police finally arrested him on Thursday.
Iqbal confessed to news channels, "I did not flee Kolkata because of the murder but was asked by party leaders to lie low. I was asked by Trinamool leaders to abscond and evade arrest."
Accused of rioting and attempt to murder, Iqbal was nabbed from Dehri-on-Sone railway station in Bihar by CID officials.
The CID traced Iqbal after he made a hasty call to his daughter. On learning that he was boarding the Jodhpur express, the officials went on a hunt and nab him as the train was running two hours late.
He was then brought to Kolkata on transit remand and will appear in Alipore Court on Saturday.
TV channels had caught Iqbal alias Munna with Sheikh Subhaan firing at policemen during the clash between Congress and TMC members at Harimohan Ghosh College in February, which harmed the image of the TMC.
Even then, the state urban development minister and TMC leader Farhad Hakim openly supported Iqbal, saying that "he was not involved".
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's sacking of police commissioner RK Pachananda for his inability to arrest initiators of violence also invited severe criticism from Governor MK Narayanan and opposition parties.
