KOLKATA: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari visited the family of a Trinamool Congress worker in Halisahar of North 24 Parganas district on Monday, a day after former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's car was attacked when she reached the spot to meet the victim's relatives.
The deceased Trinamool Congress worker, Birju Keot, husband of former Kanchrapara municipal councillor Zeni Sharma Keot, died in police lockup at Halisahar police station in the district on Friday, triggering political tension.
Admitting police negligence after meeting the family members, Adhikari said that Keot had died in police custody.
Keot was arrested on charges of extortion and other offences and produced before a court, which remanded him in police custody for five days.
On Monday, Adhikari announced a magisterial inquiry into the incident, along with Rs 10 lakh in financial assistance and a government job for the victim's wife.
Adhikari, accompanied by BJP MLA Arjun Singh and senior police officials, including Director General of Police (DGP) Sidh Nath Gupta, as well as local leaders of the ruling party in the state, met the victim's family at their residence.
His wife has alleged that Keot was beaten inside the police lockup and died. The police have not immediately responded to the allegation.
The family members also claimed that he was in good health until 10 pm on Friday, when his wife met him at the police station.
He had also undergone a medical check up on Thursday night, and no major illness was mentioned in the report, they claimed.
Zeni had also handed over clothes to her husband for use at the police station. She alleged that the police beat her husband ruthlessly inside the lockup on Friday night after she left the police station.
While speaking to reporters, Adhikari said the inspector in charge of Halisahar police station had been transferred to the police lines, while the investigating officer (IO) of the case had been suspended in connection with Keot's death.
"It is clear as daylight that the man died in custody and police negligence is established. The exact circumstances leading to his death would be clear after the post mortem report arrives," he said.
The state police chief and home secretary will monitor the case, while further action will be taken based on the findings of the magisterial inquiry and the post mortem report, he said.
Adhikari said a notification regarding the inquiry would be issued later on Monday.
Later in the day, Trinamool Congress MLAs Kunal Ghosh, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Ashok Deb, Biman Bandyopadhyay, Babar Ali, Nayna Bandyopadhyay and others belonging to the Mamata Banerjee faction staged a protest at the West Bengal Legislative Assembly complex, condemning the attack on the former Chief Minister's car on Saturday.
Protesting MLAs of both factions demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits involved in the attack on Mamata's car on Saturday.
Significantly, three Trinamool Congress MLAs, Abdul Khalek Mollah of Metiaburuz, Tousifur Rahaman of Basirhat and Bibhas Sardar of Baruipur Purba, belonging to the rebel camp led by Ritabrata Banerjee, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly, also participated in the protest.
Sardar said that all 80 Trinamool Congress MLAs should protest against the attack on 'our Didi'.
Winning only 80 out of 294 constituencies, the Trinamool Congress suffered a humiliating defeat to the BJP in the Bengal Assembly elections held in April.
On Sunday afternoon, Mamata faced the wrath of locals when she, along with her Trinamool Congress MPs Kalyan Banerjee and Dola Sen, was going to meet the family members of the deceased.
Locals allegedly backed by the ruling BJP in the state attacked the car of the former Chief Minister for the third time in the state and protested, shouting slogans of 'chor, chor (thief)' when her convoy was passing through Bijpur, close to Halisahar.
The protesters hurled mud and slippers at her car, claiming that she had come to the spot to provoke political unrest in the area. They also smeared the windscreen of the car with mud.
Spearheading her attack on her present counterpart Suvendu Adhikari, Mamata had told reporters, "Forget about my security. Police are patronizing the lumpen backed by the BJP. Bengal is now under the control of lumpen and we will move the court against the well-planned attack on me."
"I could have died here. My head could have been injured. They have hurled big brick pieces on my car. Police are protecting the BJP," she had alleged.
Mamata faced protests, with her car attacked, for the first time since the Trinamool Congress suffered a crushing defeat to the BJP in the Bengal Assembly polls.
Earlier, Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress MP from Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas district and her nephew, was also attacked in Sonarpur, hardly 30 km away from Esplanade in Kolkata, when a mob hurled eggs at him.
According to sources at the police station, Birju had been found lying ill inside the lockup on Friday night and was rushed to the state run medical college hospital at Kalyani on an emergency basis, where doctors declared him dead.
The local Trinamool Congress unit has demanded a proper inquiry into the mysterious death of Birju.
The party leadership has raised questions, saying, "How did the police arrest him though there was no FIR filed against him so far?"
