Kolkata, July 31 (IANS) A division bench of the Calcutta High Court had sought a report from Baruipur Police in South 24 Parganas district over the encounter of Pravas Mondal, one of the four accused in minor rape and murder case at Baruipur earlier this month.
The division bench of the Calcutta High Court’s Acting Chief Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee on Thursday ordered the court to submit a detailed report of the incident in the form of an affidavit by the next date of hearing which is set for August 17.
Mondal, one of the four accused in the alleged minor rape and murder case, was killed in police encounter on early morning of July 7.
The police claimed that Mondal was taken to the spot to reconstruct the crime site and at that time he tried to escape by snatching a policeman’s firearm and opened fire.
The police were forced to resort to counter-firing in self- defence in which the accused was killed.
The police claimed that the accused died in the counter firing by the police. Several questions were raised over this encounter.
A petition was filed at the Calcutta High Court challenging the encounter and subsequently the police versions on it.
The matter came up for hearing at the said division bench on Thursday and at the end of the hearing, the court directed the Baruipur Police to submit a report in the matter in the form of an affidavit by August 17.
The petitioner’s counsel and the former CPI-M Rajya Sabha member, Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya, during his argument challenged the version given by the police in the matter.
He said that the police version that the encounter was because of self-defence was not conceivable.
“The police claimed that the accused tried to escape after snatching the firearm of a police officer. This would not have been possible had the police been alert. This claim by the police seems to be completely fabricated. I demand a judicial investigation into this incident,” Bhattacharya said.
In the counter argument, the state’s Additional Advocate General Rajdeep Majumdar claimed that the main accused was taken at the crime site for recreation in between July 7 night and July 8 morning. He suddenly snatched the police’s service revolver and also fired at the police.
“The accused was injured in the police’s retaliatory fire. He was taken to a local hospital where the doctors declared him dead. The police have filed a suo motu complaint in the incident. Currently, the investigation into the incident is underway under the supervision of the Criminal Investigation Department,” he added.
After hearing the statements of both the parties, the division bench ordered the police administration to submit a report in the form of an affidavit in the matter by August 17.
–IANS
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