An assistant subinspector of Diamond Harbour police was killed apparently in a road accident when he was returning to the police station during the early hours of Monday after attending duty at a cultural programme at Sarisha.

Samir Das, 53, was found lying dead in his uniform on a road close to a petrol pump in Diamond Harbour.

As he lay dead, it drew the attention of morning walkers who informed the police.

An inquest revealed signs of several injuries on the body and signs of bleeding from his mouth.

Nitish Dhali, additional SP (zonal) of Diamond Harbour police district, who visited the spot of accident and conducted a preliminary probe, said: “It appears that the death was caused by an accident. However, to ascertain the exact cause of death, we would examine the available CCTV footage. Moreover, we are awaiting the postmortem report to know the reason behind the death of the officer.”

Family members of the deceased officer have alleged that he was murdered and demanded a probe into the unnatural death.

Das was a resident of Shibpur in Howrah.

Shukla Das, wife of the officer, said: “I strongly suspect that my husband had been murdered. There were injuries on his shoulder. The other injury marks are not indicative of a road accident.”

“Surprisingly, the CCTV camera of the fuel station was out of order. This indicates a probable conspiracy.”