Bengal shocker: 22-year-old SFI leader dies in police custody

Kolkata: While West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her senior cabinet colleagues attended the IPL inauguration ceremony, a 22-year-old student and leader of the CPI(M)-affiliated Students Federation of India (SFI) died of injuries sustained in police custody. The incident occurred when hundreds of supporters of the SFI hit the streets to protest against the state higher education department’s decision to stall students’ union elections at all educational institutions for the next six months. [caption id=“attachment_683858” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image for representative purpose only. PTI[/caption] SFI members claim that Sudipta Gupta, an MA student in the Rabindra Bharati University, died after he was “brutally hit by policemen on his head and face” that led to his fall from the bus in which he was being taken to jail. The police, however, termed it as an accident saying he collided against a lamp post, which caused his death. Denying the allegations of police torture, Joint Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) Javed Shamim told Indian Express, “A group of (SFI) supporters, who were being taken to the jail in a bus, had a verbal altercation with the home guard and a constable inside the bus. The altercation led to jostling at the gate where few students were leaning out and shouting slogans. It was unfortunate that this 22-year-old got hit against a lamp post in the melee.” Sudipto slipped into a coma and was shifted to SSKM hospital where the doctors failed to revive him after an hour-long battle. The body is to be handed over to the family on Wednesday morning after a post mortem and magisterial inquest. Left leaders in West Bengal have demanded a departmental inquiry into the incident and announced a protest rally on Thursday and a 12-hour strike in Garia-Tollygunge area.  With inputs from Agencies