A vacation bench of the Calcutta High Court has instructed the West Bengal Police to take legal action against Prashant Barman, the former BDO of Raiganj Block in North Dinajpur district, within the next 10 days. Barman is a key suspect in the abduction and murder case of gold merchant Swapan Kamilya. The court order was issued by Justice Apurba Sinha Roy and uploaded on the court’s website the following day.
The High Court has also directed the state’s Director General of Police office to provide a compliance report to the Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court within the stipulated 10-day period. Additionally, a departmental inquiry has been ordered against the investigating officer for negligence in duty in this case. Barman had appeared in court on May 26 in two separate cases but was unable to provide necessary documents related to the murder case, resulting in his bail in another case and subsequent disappearance.
Barman’s recent arrest in New Town, Kolkata, was a dramatic incident where he was apprehended for driving under the influence and engaging in abusive behavior towards a two-wheeler rider. The Bidhannagar City Police arrested him after a video of the incident went viral on social media. Barman, a known associate of some Trinamool Congress leaders, had been evading arrest since being accused of Kamilya’s murder in October last year.
