He was planning to flee to another state. While trying to hide and evade police attention, his pockets were running dry. Ultimately, it was the need for money that led Sonu Sonkar, accused in the Kharagpur civic volunteer murder, to call his friend. Meanwhile, the police were lying in wait. They got wind of this. His close friend was made to call Sonu again. A 'bait' of ₹20,000 was offered. Finally, on Tuesday evening, police arrested Sonu from an area adjacent to Kharagpur station.
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According to police sources, the arrested Sonu was planning to flee to Andhra Pradesh. He was running around here and there. With this intention, he arrived at Kharagpur station on Tuesday evening. His plan was to first catch a train to Sealdah, and then flee to Andhra Pradesh from there. However, as he did not have much money on hand, he had called his friend asking for money. This information reached the Town police station through secret sources. Sonu was called to meet near the bus stand adjacent to the station. As soon as Sonu arrived, plainclothes police officers surrounded him. Sonu was arrested that very night.
Kharagpur SDPO Dhiraj Thakur said that Sonu would be presented before Kharagpur sub-divisional court on Wednesday afternoon with an application for police custody. He also said that after interrogating Sonu, the remaining three accused criminals would also be arrested quickly.
Kharagpur city became turbulent following the civic volunteer's death. On the night of December 16, after finishing duty, Udoy (30) had arrived at Tulsi Rao's shop. At that shop itself, he got into an argument with an intoxicated youth. Later, it is alleged that several criminals brutally beat up Tulsi in front of that very shop. On December 27 (Saturday) morning, Tulsi died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Cuttack.
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All political parties became vocal demanding punishment for the criminals. On Sunday evening, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari also staged a protest in front of Kharagpur Town police station. On Monday, Trinamool Congress along with other political parties also joined the fray. However, the district police held a press conference and announced that investigation had already begun by adding murder charges to this incident. An FIR has been filed against a total of 6 people. Two people were arrested the day after the incident and searches are being conducted to find the rest. In that very incident, another accused named Sonu Sonkar was arrested on Tuesday evening.
