9 Bengal cops injured as mob seeking release of scam suspects turns violent

A group of people staged a blockade outside the Karandighi police station. Later, they blocked National Highway 34 for four hours. When policemen tried to clear the road, they were attacked

Nine policemen, including the inspector in-charge of Karandighi police station in north Bengal’s North Dinajpur district, were injured on Tuesday night when a mob attacked them, demanding the release of two men arrested for alleged forgery in documents related to scholarship for the minority community and people with disability, police said.

Representational image.

Nine persons were arrested for the attack till Wednesday afternoon.

“On Tuesday night, a group of people who demanded the release of the two arrested men, staged a blockade outside the Karandighi police station. Later, they blocked National Highway 34 for four hours. When policemen tried to clear the road, they were attacked. Nine of them were injured,” Sumit Kumar, superintendent of police, North Dinajpur, told HT.

“One of the accused is Mohammed Tahasan Ali, 46, a teacher at Sabdhan Higher Secondary School. Between 2017 and 2019, he was given the additional charge of nodal teacher. During that period, he posed as a student and registered two of his bank accounts in the national scholarship portal. He received money meant for students. A case was registered against him on July 7,” said Kumar.

“The other accused, Sakir Ali, 33, is a computer operator at Raghabpur Higher Secondary School. He held the additional charge of nodal teacher during 2018-19. During this period, 39 students were granted scholarship under the scheme for people with disability. He approved these but none of the beneficiaries are students of the school. In fact, the name of his mother also figures in the list,” said Kumar.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. Probe will reveal more. There is substantial evidence against the arrested people,” Kumar said.

On Tuesday night, some local people including a few men who are suspected to be involved in the scam, gheraoed the inspector-in-charge of Karandighi police station for hours demanding the release of the accused.

When the demand was not met, they blocked the national highway and later attacked the police.