Former Kolkata police commissioner Tushar Kanti Talukdar, who was in charge of the force when cops fired at a Youth Congress protest march to Writers’ Buildings on July 21, 1993, died on Tuesday. He was 85.
Talukdar was admitted to a private hospital on Sunday after he complained of shortness of breath. Doctors said he was intubated soon after the admission and his condition continued to deteriorate with acute kidney disorder and a dropping blood pressure.
“The patient’s condition led to a cardiac arrest at 11.53am on Tuesday and he could not be revived,” said a senior doctor at the hospital. “He died around 12.25pm.”
Talukdar later termed the police firing of July 21, which killed 13 people and injured several others, as “unfortunate”.
Appearing before the Justice Sushanta Chatterjee Commission of Inquiry years later, Talukdar had said he didn’t recall on whose orders the police had opened fire on July 21. He, however, insisted that it was not his.
Talukdar, who was the police commissioner between 1992 and 1996, was an alumnus of the erstwhile Presidency College. He penned several books.
Talukdar was heading the city police when a bomb explosion in Bowbazar claimed 69 lives, leading to the unveiling of the workings of satta don Rashid Khan, who continues to serve his term in jail.
Talukdar has been credited with stern handling of the city’s law and order after the Babri Masjid demolition in December 1992, when skirmishes broke out in several pockets.
“His tenure as the commissioner of Kolkata police was marked by several controversies but he managed the situations well,” said a contemporary of Talukdar.
“There was mutual trust and respect between him and then chief minister Jyoti Basu.”
Talukdar was also a former president of the National Association for the Blind.