Death of Salil Basu not due to external injuries, says report in HC

Death of CPI(M) leader Salil Basu was not due to any external injuries instead he succumbed due to internal bleeding, stated the report submitted to Calcutta high court on Monday.

It may be recalled that to spread canard against the police, top CPI(M) leaders claimed that Basu had died due to injuries that he received when police resorted to lathicharge during the march to Nabanna on May 22.

The victim's family members had moved court seeking intervention so that the exact reason behind his death could be brought to light. The court had formed a team to supervise Basu's post-mortem report at SSKM Hospital. The team has submitted the report before the court stating that his death was not due to any injuries during lathicharge. After going through the report, the court dismissed the case.

Salil Basu was a resident of Dum Dum Nayapatti and he had died at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital at 7.30 am on June 4. CPI(M) leaders had alleged that Basu succumbed to his injuries that he had received on his head during the march to Nabanna.

On the same day, the Kolkata Police had brushed aside the allegations stating: "This is false propaganda at its worst. The medical records prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the gentleman was admitted to R G Kar Hospital on May 25 with a history of a fall in his bathroom. He passed away today, the reasons being hemorrhagic stroke as per the death certificate".

Moreover, he had attended another rally on May 23 without getting admitted to hospital after receiving injuries during the agitation on May 22.

He was admitted to the hospital on May 25 after he fell inside the toilet.

The city police had also condemned the move of maligning them and stated that "Any death is unfortunate. More unfortunate, however, are malicious attempts to malign the police and reap political mileage out of it. We condemn this in no uncertain terms. Legal action will be contemplated if such sinister efforts to malign the police continue."