The West Bengal Crime Investigation Department on Sunday arrested a man from Purulia district for his alleged role in the murder of Trilochan Mahato, who the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed was its member. Punjabi Mahato, 45, was arrested after several rounds of interrogation, a senior officer told PTI.

The accused is a resident of the same village, Supurdi. Two mobile phones and two SIM cards have been seized. “Forensic tests will be conducted on the phones and the SIM cards,” said the officer. “Punjabi [Mahato] will be taken to court tomorrow [Monday] with a prayer for police custody.”

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An unidentified CID officer said the motive of the murder was not clear yet. “More arrests might follow, as we suspect the involvement of some other people also,” he told the Hindustan Times. Trilochan Mahato’s father had named seven people in his first information report filed at Balarampur police station on May 30. It did not mention Punjabi Mahato.

The arrest came a day before the Calcutta High Court was likely to hear a petition from Trilochan Mahato’s family seeking an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The family had filed a writ petition on June 18.

Trilochan Mahato was found hanging from a tree on May 30. “This is for doing BJP politics from age 18,” read a message scrawled on the 20-year-old’s T-shirt and on a piece of paper found near his feet. “Been trying to kill you since the vote. Failed,” the note added. “Today you are dead.”

The BJP claimed it was a political murder. “A young life full of possibilities was brutally taken out under state’s patronage,” BJP President Amit Shah had tweeted, pointing a finger at the ruling Trinamool Congress. “He was hanged on a tree just because his ideology differed from that of state-sponsored goons.”