Balurghat, Sept. 6: A Class XII student has allegedly said in a dying statement to his father that he was beaten up in a police lock-up before he was admitted to a health centre. The police have denied the charges.

Jayanta Sarkar’s death this morning sparked an outrage in Banshihari, where residents heckled Gangarampur SDO Abhijit Bhattacharjee and set his car on fire. They also beat up a policeman near Banshihari High School, where the boy studied. The protesters also blocked the Balurghat-Malda road for two hours from 5.30pm.

Jayanta’s father lodged a complaint with Banshihari police alleging that the 18-year-old high school student, who was also an SFI activist, had been beaten to death by the men in khaki.

Pradip Sarkar, a casual worker in the block office, said officers from Banshihari police station had come to his house early this morning and told him that his son had been admitted to the Rasidpur block health centre after he was found lying on the road.

“At the health centre, the doctors said my son was in a critical condition and should be shifted to the Malda district hospital,” Sarkar said. “On way to Malda, Jayanta told me he had been picked up by the police near a cinema hall at Banshihari around 11pm yesterday and taken to the lock-up where he was beaten up severely.”

The police got Jayanta admitted to the health centre when he fell ill. He complained of severe pain in the lower abdomen, Sarkar alleged. Jayanta died soon after he was admitted to the Malda hospital. “In his dying statement, my son told me that the policemen who tortured him were led by sub-inspector Uday Singh,” said Sarkar.

Singh, however, denied the charges. “I am being framed for arresting two rowdies who were close to a CPM leader of the area,” he said. District police chief Swapan Banerjee Purnapatra also denied the charges of police torture. “The boy was lying unconscious on the road early today and the night patrol rescued him and took him to the health centre.”