Dad of accused in Kurseong student’s murder found hanging

Akriti Tamang

HT, 23 December 2016,DARJEELING: The father of one of the accused involved in the murder of a student in Kurseong was found hanging from a tree near his house on Friday.

Sujit Rai, 44, was found hanging from a tree, a few yards away from his house in the Karbia Tea Estate in Kurseong. A huge crowd gathered in front of the tree and started shouting against the police. They even tried to prevent the police from taking down the body of Rai who was the head chowkidar (guard) of the estate.

“The police summoned him many times to the police station for interrogation in connection with the alleged murder of a student. His son has also been arrested. Unable to cope with the pressure, Rai committed suicide,” said Sanjyog Rai, brother of the deceased. Residents of the tea estate demonstrated in front of the Sub Divisional Police Officer’s (SDPO) office.

“We have recovered the body and sent the body for post mortem” stated L Divya V, SDPO, Kurseong.

On December 18, the decomposed dead body of 16-year-old Akriti Tamang, a class 8 student of Rama Krishna Girls’ Higher Secondary School, was recovered from under a pile of rocks from the banks of Ramitey Khola (rivulet) in the Karbia tea estate. She had been missing since November 16. On that day, she left her home in Ambotia Tea Estate for school but did not reach school. Tamang’s dead body was recovered from a place close to Sujit Rai’s house.

On December 20, police arrested Anmol Rai, Asish Rai and Prayash Rai, in their mid twenties, in connection with the murder. Sujit Rai was the father of Prayash Rai. Local residents, NGOs and students have been taking out rallies in Kurseong demanding justice in the student murder case. 

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, Dec. 23: The father of a murder accused has allegedly committed suicide, prompting family members and neighbours to allege that continuous police harassment had forced him to end his life.

The body of Sujit Rai, 45, was found hanging from a tree in Kurbi tea garden near Kurseong this morning. A team from Kurseong police station that had arrived to seize the body for post-mortem was gheraoed by around 150 people for about three hours.

Sujit's son and two other youths had been arrested by the Kurseong police on Monday in connection with the murder of a 15-year-old school girl. Her body was found in a crevice in a stream on Saturday, a month after she had gone missing.

Sujit's younger brother, Sanjog Rai, said: "In a case related to the murder of a girl, police were harassing my brother and used to call him often for interrogation. He used to fear the police and this prompted him to commit suicide."

Sujit was a chowkidar in Kurbi tea garden and his body was found around 7am. When the police arrived around 10am to take away the body for post-mortem, they were gheraoed by the local people. It was around 1pm when the police left with the body after pacifying the crowd.

"We believe police harassment forced Sujit to commit suicide. We have demanded that police or civil administration provide compensation to the family. While we demand that the accused involved in the murder of the 15-year-old student be arrested, we also want the police to stop harassing local people," said Yogendra Rai, a GTA Sabha member and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader.

L. Divya, the subdivisional police officer, Kurseong, denied the harassment charge. "There was no harassment. All of it was (calling people for interrogation) part of investigation."

K. Amarnath, additional superintendent of police, Darjeeling, said 20 people had been called for interrogation so far in connection with the girl's murder. The ASP said post-mortem report revealed that the girl had been strangled to death.

Asked about the compensation, Amarnath said: "A memorandum has been submitted for compensation with a request that it be taken up with the higher authorities."

Sources said a forensic test would also be conducted as the body had been recovered after almost a month.

Today, the three youths, Ashish Rai, Anmole Rai and Prayash Rai (son of Sujit), who had been arrested for their suspected involvement in the murder, were produced in the additional chief judicial magistrate's court in Kurseong and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

Man kills wife and daughter, commits suicide.

A man allegedly killed his wife and daughter before committing suicide in Burdwan district on Friday, police said.

“The bodies of Sajal Baran Nag, 62, and his wife and younger daughter were recovered from their house in Burdwan district’s Mongalkote on Friday morning.

“Nag was found hanging from the ceiling while his wife Manimala and their 20-yearold daughter lay dead on the floor with strangulation marks around their throat,” said an officer. A suicide note, presumably written by Nag, was recovered beside the dead bodies.

“The note, directed towards police, claims responsibility of the three deaths,” the officer added.