Calcutta, Dec. 18: A police officer and seven constables in a Diamond Harbour pocket where hooch dens thrived were “removed” today.
The action against Debabrata Sen, the officer in charge of Usthi police station, is the second such instance in four days. Radheshyam Pande, the officer in charge of excise in Diamond Harbour sub-division, was transferred on Thursday.
The removal orders of Sen and the seven constables manning the Sangrampur outpost (under Mograhat police station) came on a day the hooch toll rose to 170.
“All the eight personnel ‘have been closed’ till further orders and they will not be allowed to perform their duties,” said K.K. Barui, the additional superintendent of police of South 24-Parganas. They will, however, continue to draw their usual salaries and report to the Alipore bodyguard lines, he added.
When a policeman is “closed” — the term originating from the British legacy of confining an officer close to the armoury of a police station for an investigation — he has to report for duty every day even if no specific tasks are assigned to him.
Sen was removed because he did not raid the dens in the areas he oversaw despite complaints by villagers. The constables were relieved of their duties because some hooch outlets were allowed to come up near the Sangrampur outpost, a home department official said.
“Besides, the villagers’ complaint that a section of policemen were hand in glove with liquor den owners was also one of the reasons behind their removal,” he added.
Sheikh Daulat Ali, a resident of Sangrampur, said at least four liquor dens were being run just opposite the Sangrampur police outpost. “But the policemen at the outpost did not take any initiative to demolish the dens despite our repeated complaints. We came to know that they used to collect Rs 500 and a chicken every week from the liquor den owners,” he alleged.
Somdeb Banerjee, the circle inspector of Mograhat, has taken charge of the Usthi police station and a fresh batch of seven policemen from Kakdwip and Mathurapur in South 24-Parganas resumed duties at the outpost.
Barui said the action against the eight would facilitate an impartial probe. “The OC of Usthi and all the seven policemen of Sangrampur outpost have been removed to facilitate an impartial CID probe into the liquor deaths,” he added.
A CID officer said the eight were removed so they could not influence the villagers during interrogation. “If the policemen continue to remain in their posts, they may influence those who will be questioned by the CID team probing the liquor deaths,” said the officer.
The Trinamul Congress, Congress and the CPM today brought out three separate processions in Mograhat, Sangrampur and Usthi as a fallout of yesterday’s all-party meeting. They urged people to keep policemen posted wherever they come across any such dens.
Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra today said that his party has not yet decided on participating in tomorrow’s all-party meeting, to be chaired by assembly speaker Biman Banerjee, to discuss steps for preventing recurrence of such an “unprecedented number of liquor deaths”.
The police have so far rounded up 23 people, including four persons named in the FIR. “But the prime accused, Nurul Islam alias Khonra Badsa, is still missing. However, raids have been intensified across the state in search of the accused,” claimed district police chief L.N.Meena.
An official in Mograhat said that the police are also looking for Badsa’s relatives, if any, to expedite the investigation. “But until we get the principal accused into our custody, the investigation will remain incomplete.”
