Police jeep torched in clash after woman’s death

KOLKATA: The death of a 35-year-old housewife in Dum Dum’s Chasipara sparked a clash between police and the locals who alleged Mousumi, the victim, was murdered by her in-laws. The mob set a police jeep on fire and ransacked the victim’s in-laws’ home. Bhaskar Nandy, the victim’s husband, his father Dinabandhu and mother Sandhya were detained after a complaint was lodged.

On Sunday, Bhaskar took Mousumi to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital after she fell ill, but she died in the hospital. A death certificate issued by the hospital stated that Mousumi had a “normal death”. However, locals started an agitation on Monday after Mousumi’s body was brought to her residence. Alleging that she was strangled by her husband Bhaskar and his parents, they demanded an autopsy of the body. Bhaskar tried to convince the agitators that there was no foul play behind his wife’s death, but none was ready to buy his argument.

“My wife died after a heart attack, which is stated in her death certificate issued by the hospital. My seven- year-old son Arghya also told the crowd that his mother died of illness. But some locals did not pay any heed to our words and beat me up. My residence was also ransacked,” Bhaskar said at Dum Dum police station.

When locals did not allow her in-laws to take Mousumi’s body to the crematorium, a police team reached the spot, only to be gheraoed by the agitators. “The Chasipara residence is the parental home of Mousumi while Bhaskar and his parents were their tenants. After the death of Mousumi’s parents, Bhaskar married her around 10 years back. But he and his parents used to beat up Mousumi over petty issues,” said a local.

When police tried to reach the body forcibly, the mob pelted stones at the police jeep and later set it on fire.

“The body was sent for postmortem after the victim’s relative lodged a complaint on Monday afternoon,” said Biswajit Ghosh, additional deputy commissioner of police, Barrackpore.

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