West Bengal Police on Saturday night arrested Tirthankar Ghosh, the defeated Trinamool Congress candidate in North 24 Parganas district’s Panihati seat in the April Assembly elections and the son of former incumbent Nirmal Ghosh, in several criminal cases, officials familiar with the matter said.
“Tirthankar Ghosh has been arrested from Dakshineswar district for his alleged involvement in a post-2021 election violence case and also for allegedly stealing a prize-winning lottery ticket from the driver of the Panihati Hotel owner in November 2024. He is being produced before a Barrackpore court today,” a district police officer said on Monday afternoon, requesting anonymity.
“Sushanta Sarkar, the owner of the hotel, was also arrested. His former driver, Partha Sarkar, claimed that Sushanta Sarkar took him to Nirmal Ghosh’s house on November 11, 2024, where they snatched a Dear Lottery ticket from him. The driver claimed that the ticket won a prize of $1 Crore. They also allegedly threatened to kill him if he filed a complaint with the police, the officer added.
Partha Sarkar, a resident of Mogra area in Hooghly district, filed a police complaint last week against Nirmal Tirthankar Ghosh and his former employer Sushanta Sarkar.
“Sushanta Sarkar took me to Nirmal Ghosh’s house saying that the MLA will help me get money from the lottery company. After we reached Ghosh’s house they threatened me, brandished a gun and snatched the ticket from my shirt pocket. They got the money,” Sarkar said on Monday.
In the post-election violence case, Tirthankar Ghosh was accused of throwing bombs at the residence of Joy Saha, a local BJP leader in Panihati, after the TMC won the Bengal elections.
“Tirthankar Ghosh is a petty criminal. He not only attacked my house with bombs, but also made false charges against me and led to my arrest in 2021. Justice will prevail now,” Saha said.
Nirmal Ghosh filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court through a lawyer on Monday afternoon seeking legal protection. However, police were unable to trace the former MLA member, and his house was found locked.
Nirmal Ghosh is also accused of raping and murdering a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata in 2024, but was not questioned by the state police at the time.
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The victim’s parents alleged that he and some local TMC leaders hurriedly took the body from the hospital after post-mortem examination and burnt it at Panihati crematorium while pretending to help the family. The Central Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case under court orders.
Ratna Debnath, the victim’s mother, defeated Tirthankar Ghosh in Panihati seat after being fielded by the BJP.
“If the son is arrested, the father will also be arrested. No one can get away with the crime. Nirmal Ghosh hastily cremated my daughter to hide the evidence,” Debnath said on Monday.
On July 10, when police could not find Nirmal Ghosh for questioning in the lottery ticket case, he went to a hotel in Kolkata’s eastern suburbs to meet leaders of the rebel TMC led by Ritabrata Banerjee.
When asked, Ghosh said: “They will decide that.”
But Banerjee said Ghosh was not invited to the meeting.
“I asked him to mention the name of the person who called him or provide the phone number from whom he claimed to have received a call,” Banerjee told the media on July 10. “Recruiting Nirmal Ghosh is not our priority at all. We have reservations against him.”
