By IANS
Kolkata : Bowing to public outcry, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Monday ordered a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe into last week’s mysterious death of Muslim youth Rizwanur Rehman, whose life was thrown into turmoil after he married the daughter of a rich businessman.
Main opposition Trinamool Congress hit the streets Monday demanding a federal probe into the episode while human rights organisations and Rehman’s family, office colleagues and students clamoured for justice and punishment to some police officials, who allegedly intimidated Rehman to get out of his marriage to Priyanka Todi. The police, it was alleged, were exerting pressure on Rehman under the influence of the girl’s powerful family.
“We have ordered a CID enquiry into the case. I have also asked the CID to submit the investigation report to me within a stipulated period,” Bhattacharya told reporters at the state secretariat Writers’ Buildings.
The chief minister made the announcement after his meeting with Kolkata Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, who a day earlier called a press conference but walked out of it in a huff without answering queries on the ‘evidence’ of some top police officials’ role in harassing Rehman and forcing Priyanka Todi to go back to her parents.
Rehman, a 30-year-old graphics designer, was found dead with head injury beside a railway track Friday. His family members and neighbours alleged that he started getting threat calls from some police officers after he tied the knot with Priyanka of Salt Lake in northeastern Kolkata. He also received summons from IPS officers of the Kolkata police who wanted him to send his wife back to her parents.
Rehman married the 26-year-old daughter of influential industrialist Ashok Todi, under the Special Marriage Act in August 2007.
Rehman’s brother Rukbanur Monday met Left Front chairman Biman Bose at the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state headquarters on Alimuddin Street, demanding a neutral judicial probe into his younger brother’s death.
“We demand a neutral inquiry into the case and suspension of the police personnel who were involved in the murder of my brother. We also claim immediate production of Priyaka Todi who was my brother’s wife,” Rukbanur told reporters after meeting Bose.
Rehman’s family had earlier demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the death.
Trinamool Congress staged demonstrations, road blockades and rallies across the city, protesting the incident and alleging involvement of the police into the case.
Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee Sunday visited Rehman’s residence at Tiljaja to console his mother.
On Saturday, a mob went on a rampage in Park Circus area and set a police vehicle on fire when a rumour spread that Rehman’s body was missing from the police morgue.
Meanwhile, Sujato Bhadro of the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), who was approached by Rehman after alleged threatening calls from police, said: “The police are telling complete lies. They acted like moral police and they had no business to interfere in a legal marriage.”
Bhadra said a letter by Rehman clearly mentioned the names of top cops like Gyanwant Singh (deputy commissioner of police headquarters), Ajay Kumar (deputy commissioner, detective department-I) and police officer Sukanta Chakraborty as the ones who harassed him.