ITI student murder case: TMC leader arrested

May 13, 2016 11:24 am | Updated November 17, 2021 01:51 am IST - Diamond Harbour (WB)

Local Trinamool Congress leader Tapas Mallick, one of the 10 persons named in the lynching of an ITI student in Diamond Harbour of South 24 Parganas district, has been arrested, police said today.

Tapas, the TMC Upa-Panchayat Pradhan of the area, was absconding ever since his name surfaced in the FIR lodged by the family of Kaushik Purkait who was beaten to death on Monday night.

He was arrested from near Duttapukur in neighbouring North 24 Parganas district late last night, a senior police officer said.

He was accompanied by a youth named Biltu from the car in which they were travelling, the officer said.

The youth has been detained.

Four others had earlier been arrested in connection with the murder of the youth, who was mercilessly beaten up on suspicion of being involved in theft of cattle from the area, the officer said.

Koushik, who came to visit his aunt in the area, was roaming around when he was confronted by members of a local club and forcibly taken to a room on Monday night.

He was later rescued by his relatives who rushed to the spot on hearing about the incident and took him to Diamond Harbour Hospital. He died hours later at S. S. K. M. Hospital in Kolkata on Tuesday.

The incident triggered a public outrage in the area with a mob vandalising houses of the accused when the youth’s body was taken to the house of his aunt in a procession on Wednesday.

Opposition CPI(M), Congress and BJP visited the family of the deceased and demanded punishment for those involved and immediate arrest of Tapas, alleging that he was deliberately not being arrested by the police despite playing a key role in the confinement and lynching of the youth.

While the four other arrested have already been remanded to 13-days’ police custody by SDJM court, Diamond Harbour on Wednesday, Tapas would be produced in the same court later in the day.

Nine others were also been named in the FIR by the youth’s family.

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.