Tripura Opposition demands judicial probe into custodial death

Agartala: Expressing serious concern over the death of a 38-year-old man in police custody at West Agartala police station in the wee hours of Sunday, former state chief minister and Opposition leader Manik Sarkar, on Monday, demanded for a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Sarkar, who visited the residence of the deceased on Monday, said, “Majority of people in the state have already lost their faith on the state machinery as number of such incidents is on the rise gradually. Even last year, one person died in similar circumstances.”

Commenting on his demand for judicial inquiry into the incident, the former chief minister said, “The magisterial inquiry would not be enough and people will question the government. Last year too, a magisterial inquiry was ordered to investigate into such an incident. But family members concerned and public never got to know about the actual reason behind the death in police custody,” Sarkar said.

He also demanded that the officers involved into the alleged killing should be removed from their respective posts immediately.

Sushanta Ghosh, a resident of Lankamura in West Tripura district, was sent to police remand for two days by a local court in connection with his alleged involvement in an ATM hacking racket that skimmed huge amount from over 60 accounts in Tripura.

Sushanta Ghosh was arrested based on interrogation of four ATM skimmers that includes two Turkish and two Bangladeshi cyber criminals arrested in November last year from Kolkata.

Earlier on Sunday, chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb had ordered for a magisterial inquiry into the custodial death of Subrata Ghosh, who allegedly died in the lockup of West Agartala police station.

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“A magisterial probe has been ordered into the custodial death of Ghosh. A district magistrate will examine the incident and if anybody would be found guilty in connection to the death, appropriate action will be taken as per law,” Deb said.

He also said that the government has zero-tolerance and is very strict about the law and order in the state.

Speaking with reporters, officer In-charge of West Agartala police station, Subrata Chakraborty, said, “The cyber crime cell arrested Sushanta from his house on Saturday and he was in two days of police custody. He was found hanging in the lavatory of the lock-up at 5:05 am on Sunday.”

He further said that the deceased entered the lavatory at around 3:45 am., and did not return back. When the sentry guard on duty found that one of the enlisted persons was missing in the lockup, he went inside to inspect it.

“There is no possibility of custodial torture that leads to death as we have the CCTV footage. We don’t have cameras in the lavatory for privacy issues, but in the CCTV, Ghosh entering the lavatory can be seen clearly. The deceased used the towel provided to the people in custody,” OC Chakraborty added.

However, Parimal Ghosh, father of the deceased, alleged that their son was killed by the police in the custody and there was no chance of Ghosh committing suicide.

“My son was summoned by police officials and he was even interrogated at the police headquarters twice. The cyber crime cell too grilled him, but, police never disclosed why he was being interrogated. He cannot commit suicide, it was a planned murder. He was not guilty,” Parimal said.

The father of the deceased has lodged an FIR against a DSP of crime branch, Nirbesh Deb, and West Agartala police station.