Three personnel of Golf Green police station have been closed for alleged excess on a 34-year-old man who died at a city hospital four days after he was detained at the police station for some time on Sunday night.
His family has alleged that torture by the police caused his death.
A sergeant, a constable and a civic volunteer attached with Golf Green police station have been closed, said a senior officer of Kolkata police.
Dipankar Saha, a resident of Azadgarh, had started complaining of ill health on Thursday night and was admitted to MR Bangur Superspeciality Hospital where he died early on Friday, leading to the family’s allegations against the police.
Based on the allegations, a three-member medical board was forced to supervise the port-mortem on Friday.
According to preliminary findings of the post-mortem, “several dark reddish extensive bruises were found over both buttock and parts of the hands. Abrasions were found on the left and right forearm. However, these injuries were two-three days old and were not sufficient to cause death,” an officer said.
“Although it is clear that the injuries on the victim were not enough to cause death, their presence needs to be probed. Hence, three police personnel who were on duty at the time when he was brought to the police station have been closed for the sake of fair inquiry into the matter,” said the officer.
Senior officers said the viscera report and histo-pathological report were pending.
“The post-mortem report and the pending reports would ascertain the exact cause of his death. Meanwhile, there will be an inquiry if there was any police excess on the man,” an officer in Lalbazar said.
Police personnel who are closed are removed from their present place of posting and are asked to report to the divisional deputy commissioner’s office so they cannot by any means, influence the inquiry, a senior police officer said.
Bengal BJP has claimed that Rajib Saha, the brother of the deceased, had contested the Calcutta corporation polls from Ward number 95 on a party ticket.
BJP workers staged a protest in front of the Golf Green police station demanding justice for Saha.
Sanghamitra Chaudhuri, chief of BJP’s South Calcutta organisational district — which covers Golf Green — said that there were several discrepancies in what the police were saying.
“We have decided to move court seeking a proper investigation into this death. We also want the details of the post-mortem as well as CCTV footage of the police station,” Chaudhuri said.