Detail studies on arsenic (As) pollution on the eastern side of the River Hugli in the Bengal Basin suggest that the concentration of As in groundwater is strongly controlled by the sub-surface distribution of palaeo-channel (PC) aquifer (depth < 70 m; As-polluted), Last Glacial Maximum Palaeosol (LGMP), at depths variable between 34 and 36 m, and palaeo-interfluvial (PI) aquifer (depth 36–70 m; As-free). The groundwater on the western side of the river is generally thought to be As-free, except in few local pockets. The present study area is one such pocket and has been reported to abstract sizeable quantity of groundwater for drinking and agricultural purposes. This study, for the first time, tries to understand whether As-pollution in the western bank of the river is similarly controlled by the distribution of PC and PI aquifers. The model is tested by mapping the colour of the well completion of 148 wells, drilling 22 boreholes up to depth of 46 m and testing 141 groundwater samples collected from depth range of 10–75 m in field and laboratory for As, Fe and Mn. The well-completion colour survey and field and laboratory testing of As reveal that wells with black stains on well completion are As-free while those with red stains on well completion are As-polluted. Drilling indicates that the shallow palaeo-channel (SPC, depth < 29 m) aquifer and deep palaeo-channel (DPC, 29–70 m) aquifer consisting of grey sands have >10 μg/L As, and PI aquifer made of brown sands have <10 μg/L As. Chemical analysis of As, Fe and Mn in groundwater samples reveals that PI aquifer and deep aquifer (>70 m depth) groundwaters have low concentrations, whereas palaeo-channel groundwaters have high concentrations of these elements. Therefore, use of PI and deep aquifers instead of PC aquifers would mitigate the health risks from consumption of As-polluted groundwater at an affordable cost.