Bengal CID takes over probe into death of man in 'police firing' at Kaliaganj

Kolkata: The West Bengal CID on Monday took over the probe into the "killing" of a man in alleged "police firing" during a raid last week in Uttar Dinajpur’s Kaliaganj, which was rocked by violence over a teenage girl's death, an officer said.

The Criminal Investigation Department of the state police will not probe into the death of the 17-year-old girl whose body was found floating in a canal on April 21 in Kaliaganj, and she went missing a day earlier after leaving home for her tuition classes.

"We will investigate the death of the man who was allegedly killed in a firing during a police raid at Kaliaganj. We will not probe into the girl's death. We have started our work this morning," the officer told PTI.

Notably, a demonstration over the girl’s death had turned violent last week as a mob set the Kaliaganj Police Station on fire and thrashed on-duty police personnel.

The protesters claimed that the girl was raped and murdered, though a preliminary post-mortem examination report did not indicate that, police said.

Locals claimed that Mrityunjoy Barman, aged 33, was "killed in police firing” during a raid conducted at his house in Kaliaganj's Radhikapur area around 2 am on April 27 in search of those who were involved in attacking the Kaliaganj Police Station.

The deceased's elder brother lodged an FIR against an assistant sub-inspector of Kaliaganj Police Station for allegedly being involved in the "killing".

Leader of opposition in the state assembly and BJP legislator Suvendu Adhikari had claimed that Barman was shot dead by the police.

He also shared the photo and video of a body on Twitter, which could not be independently verified by PTI.

However, a senior officer of the Raiganj Police District rejected the allegation.