Opposition seeks judicial inquiry into Tripura custodial death

AGARTALA: CPI(M) and Congress have demanded a judicial probe into the custodial death of a 38-year-old undertrial, who was found hanging in West

Agartala

police station in the early hours on Sunday.


The state opposition parties have also demanded that the victim’s family be paid a compensation of Rs 25 lakh and administrative action be initiated against the policemen on duty at the time of the incident. “The victim’s sister has said Sushanta had told him at the police station hours before he was found hanging that SP Cyber Crime Sharmistha Chakraborty had threatened him repeatedly. Sushanta told her that Chakraborty said she will kill both him and his sister, if she did not leave the police station.

It is a clear case of murder by police, but it may not have happened inside the cell. He was murdered outside and then hanged,” CPI(M) leader Pabitra Kar said, quoting the family members. Sushanta’s father had on Sunday lodged an FIR against the DSP of Tripura police (crime branch) Nirdesh Deb, charging him with killing Sushanta in police custody.


Though the state government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident, no action has been taken against the police officers. Congress state chief Pijush Kanti Biswas asked, “When the superintendent of
police (SP), along with three of his subordinates, were suspended for failing to arrest former minister and sitting MLA Badal Choudhury three months ago, how can the same government not take any action against the accused police officers, who allegedly tortured Sushanta in custody before killing him?” Biswas, a prominent criminal lawyer, said the police made up the suicide story, which has only exposed them in front of the nation.


“Police must answer the basic questions — from where Sushanta got the muffler inside the cell. How did he climb up at least 40 feet to hang himself, where is the CCTV footage of the incident, and why were the family members of the deceased not allowed to meet him in police custody,” he added.

Sushanta was locked up in the same cell as two Turks and two Bangladeshis, who have been charged with hacking ATM cards of 60 bank accounts in November. The four had been arrested on November 19 in Kolkata for their involvement in cloning ATM cards. “There was no apparent reason to bring Sushanta in police remand and the court had also not agreed to it. Finally, following persuasion of police, a one-day custody was granted, during which he was found dead under mysterious circumstances. Sushanta may have known secrets about the case, which might have harmed some powerful person or the government. That is why he might have been murdered in a planned way,” Biswas said. Police officers have remained tightlipped about the incident.