A 50-year-old police officer from Bihar was lynched by a mob during a raid in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district in the wee hours of Saturday. Three accused— Firoze Alam, Abuzar Alam and Sahinur Khan— have been arrested in connection with the death of the Bihar cop.
Ashwini Kumar, station in charge of the Kishanganj police station, was known for his no-nonsense attitude and strict crackdown against the liquor crackdown. Kumar was leading a raid in connection with a bike theft case in a neighbouring area under Panjipoda police station of West Bengal.
However, while conducting the raids, Kumar was surrounded by a mob and allegedly thrashed.
Subsequently, Kumar was rescued by a team of police personnel from the Panjipura outpost and rushed to the Islampur Sadar Hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. Later, the West Bengal police apprehended the accused in connection with the case.
Uttar Dinajpur in West Bengal shares border with Kishanganj in Bihar. Often, the miscreants after committing crimes fled across the border to elude the police. In this case, Kumar had crossed the border to carry out a raid in West Bengal and bring the culprits to book.
However, he was attacked by a mob and beaten to death. The body of the police officer was taken to the Kishanganj police station during the day, following a post-mortem in Islampur.
But, Kumar’s family refused to accept his body after he was granted a gun salute at the police lines, alleging a conspiracy. They raised questions over the role of other police personnel in the team when Kumar was being thrashed by the mob. The family also questioned why was the West Bengal Police was not kept in the loop about the raid.
The imbroglio over the body went for an hour, following which Kishnaganj District Magistrate Aditya Prakash, Inspector General of Purnea Range Suresh Kumar Chowdhury along with other top officials held a meeting with Kumar’s family and assured them of commissioning an SIT probe into the matter. After that The body was taken to Kumar’s native place in Janki Nagar in Purnea.
According to the sources, West Bengal DGP P Nirajanayan spoke to Bihar DGP SK Singhal and assured him full cooperation on the matter. The Bihar Police later released a statement stating that it is looking into providing a job to Kumar’s kin. Officials claimed Kumar had joined the Bihar Police in 1994 and was transferred to Kishanganj a year ago.
