Miyan is suspected to be behind the killing of DRI officer Tarun Dutta in Guwahati on September 12, 2006.

Dutta (48) was on his way to office when two assailants gunned him down. Nearly 18 months before his death, Dutta was instrumental in making siezures of 80 tonnes of ganja valued at Rs 40 crore, allegedly belonging to Pakhi Miyan. The case was handed over to the CBI.

“Three years have passed since our officer was killed, but no action has been taken. If Miyan is released on bail, it will be a slap in the face of the administration,” senior DRI officials said.

Miyan, they said, was one of the biggest drug barons in the Northeast who controlled the entire chain of operations from procurement and transport to distribution of drugs at various levels.

Miyan’s arrest in June was his second such arrest in Bengal. In April 2008, he was arrested by West Bengal Police from Baguihati with 10 kg ganja and 200 gram heroin. He was then taken to Guwahati by the Assam Police and lodged in a jail.

Seven months later, however, Miyan faked illness and was admitted to a local hospital in December from where he staged a dramatic escape, after allegedly drugging two policemen on duty outside his hospital room.

His presence in Durgapur was revealed only a month ago after a DRI officer chanced upon the information.

“He was staying with his wife and child, and had even set up a small school in Rajbandh area. He frequented Arra More and Benachity areas of Durgapur,” sources said.

In the past one month alone, three consignments of ganja worth several crores, allegedly belonging to Miyan, were seized in Assam.

Over 20 cases of drug trafficking have been linked to Miyan, but there is no concrete evidence of his involvement.

“In September 2004, 2,783 kg of ganja was seized by the Narcotics Control Bureau from a gas tanker coming from Guwahati at Dunlop Crossing on Kolkata’s outskirts. During interrogation, the driver said the ganja belonged to Miyan. However, there’s no direct link,” NCB zonal director K Shankar said.

Sources in Assam police said, he is also suspected in the killings of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leader Habib Ali in 2006 and reporter of daily Asomiya Pratidin, Muslimuddin in 2008, who had exposed the nexus between politicians and drug traffickers.