Bihar senior cop lynched during Bengal raid, 3 arrested: police

A senior Bihar police official was allegedly lynched by a mob in Islampur police district West Bengal’s North Dinajpur district on Saturday when he was in the area to conduct a raid in connection with a motorcycle theft, officials said.

Three people have been arrested in connection with the lynching, the officials added.

According to officials, station house officer of the Kishanganj police station Ashwani Kumar led a police team to Pantapara village near Panjipara under Goalpokhar police station area Islampur district of West Bengal early on Saturday morning when a mob attacked them. Kumar, 50, died on the spot, the officials said.

Purnia range inspector general Suresh Choudhary said, “The police forces led by SHO had gone to conduct a raid in connection with a theft in Pantapara village of West Bengal adjacent to Kishanganj district of Bihar when a mob attacked the police team killing the SHO on the spot.” Kumar was a resident of Bihar’s Purnia district.

The other officers who accompanied the deceased officer managed to escape, he said.

“We along with Islampur (West Bengal) police have started carrying out raids to nab the [other] accused,” the IG said. A post mortem examination of the SHO was conducted at the Islampur hospital, he added.

Officials familiar with the matter said that liquor smugglers active in West Bengal might have led the attack on the SHO.

ADG (Headquarters) (Bihar) Jitendra Kumar said that the Purnia range IG Suresh Choudhary and Kishanganj SP Kumar Ashish have reached the crime scene in North Dinajpur district.

Ashish said that three main accused have been arrested from Pantpara village.

“Two men and their mother have been arrested and raids are on to nab the others,” a police officer, who was part of the SHO’s team, said. The arrested accused have been identified as Firoz Alam and Abuzar Alam and their mother, Sayeeda Begum, said Ashish.

“Two men and their mother have been arrested and raids are on to nab the others,” a police officer, who was part of the SHO’s team, said. The arrested accused have been identified as Firoz Alam, his brother Abuzar Alam and their mother Shahinoor Khatun.

Ashish said that the service revolver and mobile phones of the SHO have been recovered. “The [murder] case has been registered at Goalpokhar police station of WB,” he added.

Following the incident, the Bihar police accused officials in the neighbouring state of non-cooperation.

“We continued to call local police, but they didn’t respond to our calls…The SHO (Kumar) talked to the local police station of WB before conducting the raid but they didn’t come forward to assist us,” an official who was part of Kumar’s team said requesting anonymity.

“The West Bengal police didn’t help us for political reasons,” he said.

“Due to elections in West Bengal the ruling government there does not want to disturb their vote banks,” said the officer.

He also said that the Bengal police were initially registering a case of unnatural death, but a case of murder later.

A case has been registered under sections of 302, 326, 147, 148 and 149 of IPC. The Kishanganj SP suspended all the eight cops including a circle inspector who escaped from the spot when the mob caught and mercilessly thrashed the town SHO.

The Purnia range IG, however, said, “Islampur SP is with us and we’ll soon arrest all those involved in the incident.”

“The team had come to us around 2:30 am on Saturday . As elections were going on in the state and our men were already deployed, we requested them to reschedule the raid. We never knew that they went ahead with the raid. We have already arrested three persons. It is a very unfortunate and tragic incident,” said Sachin Makkar, superintendent of Islampur police district.

Bihar director general of police SK Singhal said that his Bengal counterpart, P Niraj Nayan has assured him full cooperation in the case. “All those involved with the incident must be identified for action,” Singhal said.

Condemning the incident, Bihar police association president Mrityunjay Singh said, “There is nothing called law and order or any governance in West Bengal. The inspector had followed all procedures and informed the concerned police station before reaching there for carrying out raid. However, he got no support from the local police station, while criminals managed counter-attack.”

The association has written to the Bihar home department for an ex gratia of ₹1 crore for the family of the deceased officer, Singh said. “The union home ministry should take cognizance of the incident for proper action in the incident and ensure payment of compensation to the family members of the slain police officer,” he said.