Kolkata cop killing: Accused TMC leader Iqbal likely to surrender

Local Trinamool Congress leader Mohammed Iqbal alias Munna, who was allegedly present when sub-inspector Tapas Chowdhury was shot during a Congress-Trinamool clash in a college campus is likely to surrender today, reported Times Now. According to Statesman, which cited a preliminary police report indicating political interference, Iqbal played the lead role in the Garden Reach fiasco. But the report was not entertained by senior police officers at Lalbazar. The Statesman report further stated that a senior police officer said the report was not entertained because of the inclusion of the paragraph implicating Mohammad Iqbal. [caption id=“attachment_626928” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Screen grab/ ibnlive[/caption] “The report attributed the violence to the fallout of a clash between supporters of the TMCP and the Chhatra Parishad (CP), a claim rubbished by state urban development minister Firhad Hakim.   Explaining the role of Munna, the report stated that to remove the supporters of the CP led by Mr Furkhan Ansari and Mr Abdur Rehman a considerable crowd comprising TMCP and TMC supporters, led by MD Iqbal and Ranjit Seal, councillor of 133 ward, arrived in front of the college gate. The report said they began agitating in a “violent mood” against the assembling of the CP and Congress workers. They even exploded crude bombs to remove CP supporters, said the report. It was in this crossfire that SI Tapas Choudhury was caught along with Inspector of SF, Mr Milan Dam and SI Suman Saha of PTS.” Seikh Suhan, allegedly an aide of TMC councilor Mohammed Iqbal was caught shooting the policeman on the camera. However, a TMC minister had earlier said that he did not believe that Iqbal was in anyway involved in the incident. This comes just after a day the West Bengal government sacked the Kolkata police commissioner Ranjit Kumar Pachnanda.  The Mamata Banerjee-led government is facing strong criticism for sacking the police commissioner, while her party was accused of shielding Mohammed Iqbal. Reacting to the report, West Bengal Governor MK Narayanan said, “The government has already said that law will decide course of action on those accused in the Kolkata violence.” The governor had yesterday slammed a minister’s alleged attempt to shield Md Iqbal, saying he had no business doing it. “The police should act on the list of the accused in the FIR,” he observed while paying a visit to the SI’s residence. The chief minister said Pachnanda was removed as a fall out of Tuesday’s violence in a college in Kolkata which claimed the life of an unarmed policeman. The victim, Tapash Chowdhury, was a veteran sub-inspector of the city police and he succumbed to the injuries caused by a stray bullet fired during the commotion. Pachnanda, who was shifted as additional director general, security, was replaced by Surajit Kar Purkayastha. But the top cop’s transfer created a huge uproar in the media, Opposition parties and common people. The Mamata government was especially crticised for removing the top cop, while ‘protecting’ the accused and the political leaders.