ITI student lynched by mob on suspicion of stealing buffalo

In a tragic incident, an ITI student was beaten to death on mere suspicion of stealing a buffalo at Harindanga Dakshinpara in Diamond Harbour in the wee hours on Tuesday. Police said the victim Kaushik Purakayat (23) was a resident of Mandirbazar and he went to visit his relative Satya Halder’s house at Haringdanga Dakshinpara on Monday.

A buffalo, somehow, got stolen from the adjacent locality Harindanga Paschimpara. The residents of the area went out in search of the Buffalo and found the victim speaking over his cell phone at a poorly illuminated place. As the youth was unknown to them, the residents of Dakshinpara suspected that he had stolen the buffalo.

They asked him to reveal the whereabouts of the buffalo. Despite his repeated attempts, he failed to make them believe that he was not a thief and came to see Kali puja in the house of his relative at Dakshinpara. He also told them that he was new to the place and he came a bit far from his relative’s house while speaking over phone.

Someone from the mob slapped him and subsequently, others started beating him up. They continued manhandling him with wooden logs till he was unconscious.

His relatives rushed to the spot after around half an hour of the incident and found him lying in a pool of blood. His relatives reached to the spot late as they were busy in the preparation of Kali puja in their house.

They took him to Diamond Harbour Sub-divisional Hospital where he was admitted with injuries all over his body. He was shifted to SSKM Hospital as his condition deteriorated in the wee hours on Tuesday. He was declared brought dead when taken to the hospital in the city.

The incident led to tension in the area as residents of Haringdanga Dakshinpara staged a demonstration protesting against the incident and demanding arrest of all the persons behind the death of an ITI student.

The situation had turned worse when some people from the locality had attempted to attack the houses of the people involved in the crime.

A huge contingent of police was posted to avoid deterioration of law and order situation. The police restricted the people from going to the adjacent locality as it would have worsened the situation.

The victim’s parents later went to the place and lodged a complaint with the police against 10 people including two women. Police arrested Saila Bag and detained two others from Harindanga 

Paschimpara.

This is not the first case of lynching in the state. It had witnessed the arrest of three people for lynching a student inside a college in West Bengal. The incident had taken place at Sabang Sajanikanta Mahavidyalaya in West Midnapore district in 2015 when Krishna Prasad Jana, a BA student, was beaten to death during a clash between two groups of students.