Trinamool activist dies in ‘police custody’ in Hooghly, cadres go on rampage

Violence broke out in Dhaniakhali, a village in Hooghly district located about 45 km from here, on Saturday morning after a Trinamool Congress activist was allegedly beaten to death at a police station.

As news of the custodial death of Kazi Nasiruddin spread, thousands of locals, mostly Trinamool cadres, attacked the police station at dawn today, prompting the police to lob tear gas shells and lathicharge to quell the mob. Trinamool activists also set up roadblocks to protest the "murder of their party colleagues by protectors of law".

Hooghly police superintendent Tanmay Roy Chowdhury admitted the death in police custody and promised an impartial probe.

However, the absence of senior Trinamool Congress leaders during the agitation prompted opposition parties to raise fingers at "TMC's internal feud that led to the incident".

Sheikh Sabir Ali, a local Trinamool cadre, said he had seen the police assaulting Nasiruddin in front of many people.

"Nasiruddin, who was associated with the Trinamool since its inception, had gone was driving a goods vehicle that he bought recently. He parked the vehicle at Madanmohantala around 8 pm when two policemen in plain clothes asked him to produce the papers of the vehicle. When Nasiruddin told the police that the papers were with the person from whom he had purchased the vehicle, the policemen abused and slapped him. An altercation followed after which he was beaten up and taken to Dhaniakhali police station," Ali said.

Ali added that he had called up the officer-in-charge of Dhaniakhali police station and requested him to release him. "When I came to the police station, I saw Nasiruddin lying in a room. He was beaten up in the police station too," he alleged.

"Late in the night, he was brought to Dhaniakhali rural hospital by policemen who told the hospital authorities that the man fell ill in the police station. A doctor declared Nasiruddin dead. Around 11 pm, the police informed Nasiruddin's family about his death. The family alleged police torture caused the death. The police forcibly took the body away to Chinsurah," Ali said.

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