A 21-year-old migrant worker died by suicide in West Bengal's Birbhum district after he was accused by his neighbour of theft and subsequently detained by police, who allegedly also beat him up in the custody, his family said.
The officer-in-charge of the Lokpur police station, Ramesh Mondal, was relieved from duty while another officer, Saroj Ghosh, was suspended in connection with the incident, said Superintendent of Police Shyam Singh.
"A departmental investigation has been started against the two," he said on Thursday.
Souvik Garai was found hanging at his home in Ruposhpur village on Tuesday morning, triggering tension in the area with his family alleging that he killed himself after being beaten up by police who picked him up after their neighbour, a sweet shop owner, accused him of theft.
"My son was working in Gujarat as a labourer and came back home due to the lockdown around a month ago. He also
stayed in quarantine," Souvik's father Narugopal said.
He claimed that three days before the incident, his neighbour Shivaran Gorai had accused Souvik of stealing money
from his shop and some other items from his house and also lodged a police complaint.
"Souvik is innocent. But the police picked him up on Sunday and thrashed him. After his release on Monday, Shivaran
and his relative Sajal again came to the house and beat up Souvik," the father said.
He said that following this his son killed himself as he was ashamed and embarrassed about the whole incident.
Police sources said that Narugopal has lodged a complaint against Shivaran, Sajal and another relative Kajal
over Souvik's death, and a case has been registered based on it.
As Souvik's body was found, protests broke out in the area over the role of the police.
Police said they have arrested Shivaran and Kajal in connection with the death while Sajal is on the run.
They were produced at the Dubrajpur court on Wednesday and Judicial Magistrate Vivek Tamang sent them to 14 days in
jail, said Rajendra Prasad Dey, the public prosecutor in the case.
An investigation has also been started by Additional Superintendent of Police (Bolpur) Shivprasad Patra on the role of the officers of the Lokpur police station.
According to police sources, the two officers of Lokpur police station could not provide any specific reason as
to why Shouvik was taken into custody without initiating any case against him even after receiving a complaint of theft from the sweet shop owner.
The allegation of Souvik being beaten up in custody is also being probed, they said.
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