Rizwanur

Calcutta, Sept. 22: A rumour that police had “done away with” the body of a young man, found dead near railway tracks after accusing top officers and his rich in-laws of threatening him, provoked a mob attack on police and cars in Park Circus this afternoon.

Hours earlier, Rizwanur Rehman’s family and the local citizens’ committee in Tiljala had filed separate complaints with Karaya police demanding a probe into the “role” of his father-in-law, businessman Ashok Todi, in the mysterious death.

Rizwanur, 22, was found between the Dum Dum and Bidhannagar Road stations yesterday, body covered with injuries and head smashed, a month after marrying Todi’s daughter against her family’s wishes.

The youth had accused Lalbazar of pressuring his wife to return to her father and threatening to arrest Rizwanur for kidnapping if she didn’t, according to his family and an NGO whose help he had sought.

According to the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights, Rizwanur’s complaint says the assistant commissioner (anti-rowdy section), Sukanta Chakraborty, and the deputy commissioner (headquarters), Gyanwant Singh, had tried persuasion.

Later, city detective chief Ajay Kumar issued the arrest threat on September 8, prompting the girl to go back “for seven days” to Todi’s Salt Lake home, from where she never returned.

Rizwanur’s sister-in-law Zahida backed this, saying: “I saw him prepare the complaint on his computer over two nights and took a peek. It matched what the APDR says.”

Todi could not be contacted. A spokesman for his company, Lux Hosiery Industries, said: “The entire family often goes out of town for about two weeks.”

The railway police, who claimed Rizwanur was knocked down by a Sealdah-Burdwan local, said the driver would be asked if the victim was alive when he was hit.

Tiljala, simmering since yesterday, erupted around 12.30pm today amid a rumour that the body was missing from the NRS morgue, where it had been taken for the post-mortem.

“Our relatives went to the morgue but couldn’t find the body,” said Rizwanur’s elder brother Rukbanur. “We never asked anyone to create trouble.”

A mob of 1,500 from Tiljala, Rifle Range Road, Beniapukur and Park Circus blocked the approach to No. 4 Bridge, stoned stationary cars and buses and torched a police jeep. Two senior officers were seriously injured in the stoning.

The blockade was cleared around 3.30pm by RAF and armed police.