Parul Das at her house in Jafrabad under Samsergunj police station, Jangipur. Her husband Haragobinda Das and son Chandan Das were murdered during the Murshidabad communal violence. | Photo credit: Debasish Bhaduri/The Hindu

West Bengal Police arrested one Hajrat Ali early morning on Saturday (May 10, 2025) in connection with the murder of a father-son duo in Murshidabad on April 12 during communal mob violence, Deputy Inspector General of Police in Murshidabad range Syed Waquar Raza told The Hindu. 

Within a month of the murder, Mr. Ali alias Fitu was arrested from Pakur in Jharkhand by a joint team of the Samsherganj police station and the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to investigate instances of violence in Murshidabad, Mr. Raza said. 

Violence unfolded on April 11 and April 12 in Murshidabad’s Samsherganj police station area at a protest against the recently passed Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025. 

A father-son duo, Harogobind Das and Chandan Das, were brutally killed outside their home in the area’s Jafrabad locality in the communal violence on April 12.

Several properties were torched and vandalised by a mob across the Dhulian municipality and Tinpakuria gram panchayat areas under Samsherganj those two days. 

“Mr. Ali, who was apprehended on Saturday (May 10, 2025), was an accused named in the FIR in connection with the murder and was one of the attackers who killed the duo”, Mr. Raza said. 

He added that this is the 11th arrest in the case and that investigation is on. “Three hundred and forty five arrests have been made so far in connection with the violence that unfolded in Murshidabad on April 11 and April 12,” Mr. Raza said. 

It is worth noting that the bereaved Das family recently petitioned the Calcutta High Court for an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the murder.