A man found unconscious near a market in Bhangar in South 24-Parganas on Sunday morning, was declared dead at a hospital — amid allegations that he was lynched to death as a suspected thief.

The preliminary post-mortem of the deceased person, identified as Azgar Mallick, revealed that he died because of “antemortem injuries and existing illness,” police said.

Kolkata police officers said CCTV footage from a little far from where Mallick, a resident of Fulbari in Bhangar, was allegedly found unconscious showed some men “moving in suspiciously”. Bhangar is around 34km from the city.

Based on the CCTV footage, two persons have been detained for interrogation.

Investigators said they were retrieving CCTV footage from a camera that is believed to be closest to the spot.

A senior officer said the police were informed about a man, in his 50’s, lying unconscious near the Bhangar market around 7.30am on Sunday.

Some of the shop owners at the market, who arrived in the morning, identified Mallick and informed his brother who came and took him away, the police said.

“There are allegations that the incident (rumoured to be lynching) happened around 4.30am. By the time the local police station was informed, the man’s family had removed him and taken to a hospital, where he was declared dead. As there were allegations of lynching and mob violence, leaving nothing to chance, a team went to his house at Fulbari to recover the body.
However, the family did not want to hand over the body initially,” said an officer of
Kolkata Police.

After around four hours of persuasion, the police managed to recover the body and sent it to a government hospital for post-mortem.

An officer who has seen the body said there were no external injury marks except a small wound on his leg.

Several incidents of mob violence and lynching have been reported across the state in the last few weeks, prompting the police top brass to issue guidelines to prevent rumour mongering and spreading lies with the use of social media.

In Bhangar, the police have also collected CCTV footage from other cameras.

“There are rumours that he had stolen something from the market and hence, was tied up and beaten. However, we are yet to get any witness to this alleged incident or any complaint from the family,” the officer said.

Joint commissioner of police (headquarters) of Kolkata Police, Meeraj Khalid, said on Sunday the police were scanning all the available CCTV footage.

“Whatever the outcome (of the footage scanning and the post-mortem), appropriate steps will be taken. Strict action will be taken if foul play is found,” he said.

An unnatural death case has been registered with Bhangar police station.

Kolkata Police officers said they were looking into “all angles” of the man’s death.