KOLKATA: An outgoing Trinamool Congress councillor’s husband died allegedly in police custody in Kanchrapara in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Friday night, triggering political tension.
Zeni Sharma Keot, the outgoing TMC councillor of ward 23 of the erstwhile Kanchrapara municipality, lodged a complaint alleging that her husband, Birju Keot, was beaten to death by police inside the lockup. Police have not yet responded to the allegation.
Birju was arrested by Halisahar police on charges of alleged extortion and other corrupt practices. He was produced before a court on Friday and remanded to police custody for five days.
Family members said Birju was in good health until around 10 pm on Friday, when Zeni met him at the police station. They said he had undergone a medical examination and no major illness was reported. Zeni had also handed over clothes for him to use at the police station.
She alleged that police personnel beat her husband inside the lockup after she left the police station.
According to police sources, Birju was found unwell inside the lockup on Friday night and was rushed to a state-run medical college hospital in Kalyani, where doctors declared him dead. He may have died of cardiac arrest, though the exact cause of death has not been officially confirmed.
It is also not clear whether any injury marks were found on his body. The body has been sent for post-mortem, and the cause of death will be established after the autopsy.
The local TMC unit has demanded a proper inquiry into Birju’s death. The party leadership questioned his arrest, saying, “How did the police arrest him though there was no FIR filed against him so far?.”