Bihar cop investigating theft case in West Bengal beaten to death by mob in Uttar Dinajpur

SHO of Kishanganj Police Station in Bihar, Ashwini Kumar was beaten to death by a mob in Pantapada village of Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal on Saturday. The incident took place in the Gowalpokhar police station limits adjacent to Kishanganj district, officials said.

According to Purnia IG Suresh Prasad, the officer had come to the village for a raid in connection with a bike theft when a mob attacked and beat him to death. The West Bengal Police has sent the SHO’s body to the Islampur Sub-Divisional Hospital in Bengal for the post-mortem. The case will be investigated and all the accused will be arrested soon by conducting joint raids with the help of Bengal Police, the IG said.  One person has been detained by the police in Panjipara over the killing of the police officer.

According to sources, Ashwini Kumar was a resident of 94 Batch and Inspector of Janaki Nagar police station area of ​​Purnia district. He was posted to Bihar's Kishanganj Police Station last year. During a meeting on Friday, SP Kumar Ashish had issued notice to all station heads regarding the growing incidents of robbery in the region and also assigned them the task to arrest the warrantees. 

The Bihar Police officer had ventured into the neighbouring area under Panjipara police station while conducting raids to look for the culprit. He allegedly received no support from the local police there. Following the cop's death, a statement by Bihar Police Association has said while Ashwini Kumar had approached the local police seeking help, they had promised to send a team along with him but failed to do so.

West Bengal elections underway

The incident comes in the backdrop of phase 4 elections in West Bengal, where the ruling TMC is at loggerheads with the BJP, which is keen on snatching power from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. some of the key constituencies in the fourth phase of elections include Bhawanipur, Tollygunge, and Singur. Out of 44 constituencies, nine are in Howrah, 10 in Hooghly, 11 in South 24 Parganas, five in Alipurduar, and nine in Cooch Behar.

The first phase concluded with a voter turnout of 82 percent, the second phase with 80.43 percent, and, the third phase concluded with a voter turnout of 83.93 percent. Apart from phase four which started today, Bengal's other phases of elections are scheduled on  April 17, April 22, April 26, and April 29 with results to be announced on May 2.