CBI arrests proclaimed offender in 2021 Bengal post-poll violence case

The CBI has arrested Proclaimed Offender Gopal Das alias Bishal Paul from West Bengal in the 2021 Post-Poll Violence murder case of Avijit Sarkar. At large since 2021, he carried a cash reward of Rs 50,000 for his arrest.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Proclaimed Offender (PO) Gopal Das alias Bishal Paul from Rabindranagar in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas area in the 2021 Post-Poll Violence murder case.

According to a release, the accused was at large since the registration of the FIR in 2021. He never joined the investigation/trial. For his arrest, the CBI had announced a cash reward of Rs 50,000. He has been arrested by the CBI based on human intelligence and technical inputs.

Case Background and Investigation

The CBI registered the instant case on August 25, 2021, in compliance of the order of the Calcutta High Court dated August 19, 2021, by taking over Narkeldanga Police Station FIR relating to alleged murder of Avijit Sarkar on May 2, 2021, at Sitalatala Lane in Kolkata. After completion of investigation, the CBI filed chargesheet and supplementary chargesheets against 38 accused persons in 2021 and 2025, including Gopal Das alias Bishal Paul as well as Paresh Pal (the then MLA of TMC) and the then TMC Councillors - Swapan Samaddar and Papiya Ghosh, under different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The case is under trial in the Court of Ld. City Sessions Court in Calcutta, as per the release.

The arrested accused Gopal Das alias Bishal Paul was produced before the Competent Court, Calcutta, on August 11, which remanded the accused to Judicial Custody.

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