Protests continued in West Bengal over SFI leader Sudipto Gupta’s death, allegedly due to baton charge by the Kolkata Police.
The 22-year-old student leader was fatally injured on Tuesday while participating in an agitation against the Mamata Banerjee Government’s decision to stop college union elections for the next six months.
While the police maintained that Sudipto hit his head on a lamp post after he fell from the bus, the SFI alleged that the police had hit the activist on the head while taking him to the Presidency jail, after he was arrested. The SFI had called a strike on Thursday to protest against his death. The city police continued to call it an accident. Sources said Sudipto sustained serious injuries to his head and all over his body.
“He received fatal blows to the middle of his forehead and back of his head,” they said.
“We will give a final report, once the probe is over. We are looking into all possibilities. The investigation will be transparent. Let it proceed and we will come out with a final report. Till then we request the media not to jump to any conclusion, because the way the incident is being projected is not right. We have launched a thorough probe and the forensic team has visited the spot,” Joint Commissioner of Police Javed Shamim said.
Meanwhile, Mamata continued to deny any instance of police atrocity. When asked about the strike called by the SFI, Didi asked what was it for. She said the postmortem would prove that the incident was an accident. “It is unfortunate. It is not police assault,” she stressed. There was a partial bandh in Kolkata on Thursday, with roadblocks across the city.