A group of men has been accused of killing a youth in Nadia’s Krishnagar after he raised his voice against them for allegedly drinking in public, near a Kali Puja immersion procession, early on Thursday.
Police said the victim, Tuhin Ghosh, 35, was an employee of the state fire services department’s Ranaghat unit and was attacked with a sharp weapon during an altercation, near the Krishnagar Royal Palace.
Eyewitnesses rushed him to the Nadia District Hospital in Krishnagar, where he died. “A vein above his left heel was severed in the attack, which caused fatal bleeding,” a doctor at the hospital said.
“Tuhin was walking ahead of the procession to clear the way. A group of youths were drinking in the middle of the road at Chowrasta. The procession had to be halted and Tuhin asked the youths to leave, which led to an altercation. A few minutes later, we heard a furore in the area and saw people running away. Once the crowd dispersed, we found Tuhin lying in a pool of blood. But it is not clear who attacked him. We rushed him to the district hospital in the Shaktinagar area of the town, where he died,” said a member of Alingan Club.
The incident occurred around 2am on Thursday, when the immersion procession of Alingan Club, with which the victim was associated, was approaching Chowarasta, near the palace.
A police officer said a preliminary investigation revealed that the assailants had attacked the deceased with a sharp weapon during the altercation. The police, on the basis of a complaint lodged by the family of the deceased, began a murder case against Khokon Seikh, the prime accused, and his associates. Seikh is absconding.
A section of residents of Nediarpara in the town, where the deceased lived, vandalised Seikh’s home. The police have detained two relatives of Seikh in connection with the murder. “We have begun a probe,” said a senior officer of Krishnagar police district.
