Bengal gold merchant murder: Ex-Rajganj BDO missing from charge sheet

KOLKATA: Questions have been raised over the police investigation into the murder of gold merchant Swapan Kamilya after the name of former Rajganj BDO Prashant Barman, alleged to be the main accused, was not included in the charge sheet submitted to the Bidhannagar court.

Kamilya was allegedly kidnapped on October 28 last year, and his body was recovered from a canal bank in Jatragachi under the New Town police station the following day.

The charge sheet, filed after 90 days, names five accused – Tufan Thapa, Raju Dhali, Sajal Sarkar, Gobinda Sarkar, and Vivekananda Sarkar – but excludes Barman. Investigators said his name may be added to a supplementary charge sheet or a separate one later.

The victim’s family has accused Barman, who was removed from his post as BDO, of being the prime conspirator and expressed anger over the police’s failure to arrest him.