By IANS
Kolkata : Two deputy commissioners of Kolkata Police may be removed from their posts for their alleged involvement in the mysterious death of city youth Rizwanur Rahaman, who had married industrialist Ashok Todi’s daughter, state Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy said Friday. Earlier two other policemen were removed from their posts.
“If need be, we will remove the two senior IPS officers — Deputy Commissioner (headquarters) Gyanwant Singh and Deputy Commissioner (detective department) Ajay Kumar — whose names have figured in the case. We will take legal advice in the matter and proceed accordingly,” Roy told reporters at the state secretariat here.
He, however, said “no decision” had been taken about Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, whose name had also figured in the case.
Rizwanur, whose body was found beside a railway track with his head smashed on Sep 21 in Kolkata, had mentioned the names of Gyanwant Singh and Ajay Kumar, besides police officers Sukanta Chakraborty and Krishnendu Das as the ones who had harassed him.
His father-in-law, Ashok Todi, a prominent industrialist, and some senior IPS officers in the state are in the eye of a storm for allegedly intimidating the youth to opt out of the marriage with Ashok’s daughter Priyanka Todi.
“The two senior IPS officers have expressed their reluctance to face an inquiry by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). But they will be summoned to appear before the investigation team when necessary,” Roy said.
Rizwanur was in touch with Sujato Bhadra of the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), a human rights body, before his death and had given a written complaint about the harassment by these police officials.
The state government meanwhile decided to remove Assistant Commissioner Sukanta Chakraborty and Sub-Inspector Krishnendu Das of the anti-rowdy section of Kolkata Police from their posts Friday for their alleged involvement in the mysterious death of Rizwanur.
“We are preparing the papers for their removal which will be sent to them soon,” the home secretary said.
Both the police officials had told Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers that they had merely followed instructions from their superiors while hounding Rizwanur and his wife Priyanka to opt out of the marriage.
Earlier in the day, veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Jyoti Basu said the government would take suitable action against Prasun Mukherjee only after the Calcutta High Court heard the case.
“Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is awaiting the hearing in the case by Calcutta High Court. Action will be taken against the police commissioner after that. We are waiting to see if the court orders a CBI probe into the incident,” Basu said.
The court has postponed the hearing till Monday.
Basu also slammed Mukherjee’s statement at a press conference last week that the police would interfere in cases where a marriage had taken place between families who are poles apart in social standing.
“The police commissioner’s remark is in very bad taste. He should never have said that. What he has said is his own view and the government does not subscribe to it. The chief minister has listened to his statement on television and is very perturbed over it.”
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had ordered a judicial probe into Rizwanur’s death Sep 27 by former Calcutta High Court judge Alok Chakraborty.
Bhattacharjee had also ordered a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) inquiry into the case, which is underway concurrently with the judicial inquiry.