BJP man’s death: After calling it suicide, cops lodge murder case

PURULIA: A few days after asserting that it was a case of suicide, the Purulia police has registered a murder case in the death of BJP worker Dulal Kumar. The 32-yearold was found hanging from a high-tension tower at Dabha village under Balarampur police station on June 2.
According to sources, police lodged the murder FIR on June 21 and named six persons.
According to sources, police have now registered cases under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).Kumar’s brother Krishna Pada had named six persons in the complaint lodged with the Balarampur police on June 3. In the complaint, he had alleged that the six accused had threatened Kumar for working with the BJP.
The FIR is contrary to what the Purulia police had claimed after receiving the postmortem report. Purulia SP Akash Magharia had told reporters that after the postmortem, a five-member team of medical experts had stated that it was a suicide. Quoting the post-mortem report, he had said, “It says due to asphyxia, due to hanging, ante-mortem and suicidal in nature.”
Magharia’s immediate predecessor Joy Biswas had claimed on Saturday that preliminary investigation suggested that it was a case of suicide. Biswas was later transferred.
The state then ordered a CID probe into the deaths of Dulal Kumar and Trilochan Mahato (who was found hanging on May 31).
“The CID has taken up the case and we have forwarded the complaint to the agency. Later, CID asked us to lodge an FIR,” Magharia said on Thursday.
“We are planning to lodge a petition in the Calcutta High Court, demanding a CBI probe into the death Dulal Kumar,” said Priyanka Tibrewal, advocate for Kumar’s family. Tibrewal, who met CID officials on Thursday, claimed that Kumar was murdered and the state agencies are yet to make a headway into the case. “We had sent a letter to the CID earlier and the Balarampur police station lodged a murder case only after that,” she said.
Top CID sources said though the local police had registered a unnatural death case, they paid heed to the complaint filed by the family. “The murder case was lodged based on that,,” said a top source.