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Brother of sole BJP worker killed in Kolkata welcomes CBI probe in poll violence
BJP worker Abhijit Sarkar was allegedly murdered by a mob in Kolkata’s Narkeldanga area.
One hundred and seven days after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker Abhijit Sarkar was allegedly murdered by a mob in Kolkata’s Narkeldanga area following the announcement of the assembly poll results, his family on Thursday hailed the high court for ordering a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in all post-poll killings.
Sarkar was the only BJP worker killed in the state capital. The rest of the incidents took place in the districts.
“We have finally found justice. Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders threatened me and my brother with dire consequences during the polls. The attack started as soon as the results were announced on the afternoon of May 2. A mob tied television wire around my brother’s neck and dragged him along the road. They smashed his head with a stone. The police did not register a complaint although we pleaded several times,” Biswajit Sarkar, the victim’s brother, said on Thursday afternoon.
“Some police officers even threatened us and said they would pick the names of the accused. We refused to comply,” said Sarkar who placed flowers before a pillar inside the Calcutta high court. “This is the least people like us can do to pay tribute to the seat of justice,” he said.
Biswajit Sarkar is among the petitioners who moved the Supreme Court in May, seeking the formation of a special investigation team for probing allegations of violence by TMC workers. The apex court allowed the Calcutta high court to hear all the petitions.
Abhijit Sarkar’s murder figured prominently in the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) report that was submitted before the Calcutta high court on July 13. The five-judge bench headed by acting chief justice Rajesh Bindal had asked the NHRC to probe the allegations of post-poll violence. The rights body recorded Biswajit Sarkar’s statement.
On July 13, senior advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Kapil Sibal represented the state government. BJP leader and advocate Priyanka Tibrewal, who is representing many of the victims, filed an affidavit seeking a DNA test to identify Sarkar’s body which is still lying in a morgue. The court ordered that a DNA test has to be done by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory.
The bench had earlier ordered a second autopsy at the army’s Command Hospital in Kolkata.
Tibrewal told the court that members of Sarkar’s family could not identify the body before the autopsy at Command Hospital. The court said that DNA samples from the corpse should be matched with the DNA of the victim’s brother.
Representing the state, advocate general Kishor Dutta accused members of Sarkar’s family of not cooperating with the police. He said several attempts were made to record their statements.
“My brother’s body must have perished by now,” Biswajit Sarkar said on Thursday.
Talking to HT on condition of anonymity a senior officer of the Kolkata Police said Biswajit Sarkar’s allegations are baseless.
“On July 24, we arrested two men. The accused Sanjay Dey, 26, and Avijit Dey, 25, are residents of Mahesh Barick Lane in Narkeldanga. They were hiding in a relative's house at Chandannagar in Hooghly district. Seven of the eight people named in the first information report (FIR) have been nabbed,” the officer said.
