Wife job after poll-duty death

DM Meena hands over the appointment letter to Arpita Roy Burman in Raiganj on Friday. Picture by Kousik Sen

KOUSIK SEN, TT, Jul 14, 2018, Raiganj: Arpita Roy Burman, the wife of schoolteacher Rajkumar Roy who had gone missing while on duty as a panchayat poll presiding officer in May and was later found dead along the tracks near Raiganj, was recruited in a clerical post by the North Dinajpur district administration on Friday.

Arpita accepted the appointment and thanked the state government for standing by her. She, however, insisted on a second-post mortem on the remains of her husband and a CBI probe into her husband's death.

"I thank the chief minister and the state government for providing me a job at the district collectorate. It would help me to run my family and look after the children. However, I still want that my husband's body should be exhumed and post-mortem should be conducted again. Also, there should be a CBI probe," said Arpita.

Earlier, she reached at the district magistrate's office where Arvind Kumar Meena, DM, North Dinajpur, spoke with her and handed over the appointment letter. She has been recruited in a permanent post of a lower division clerk at his office, Meena said.

On May 14, when panchayat elections were held in the district, Rajkumar was on duty at a booth in Itahar block. At around 8pm, he went missing and on the next day late evening, his mutilated body was found near the rail tracks on the outskirts of Raiganj.

His death led to protests, particularly by teachers, who came down to the streets. Several demonstrations were held in the town, as a section of them alleged that the schoolteacher has been murdered.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had spoken to Arpita over the phone as CID took up the probe. Later, it was revealed in post-mortem reports that Rajkumar has died after hit by a blunt moving object, suspected to be a train. Also, a train driver's report suggested an accident.

On May 22, officials had met Arpita and handed over a compensation of Rs 5 lakh. She had then sought a government job.

"The chief minister acted on the request and approved recruitment of the deceased presiding officer's wife. We received the order from Nabanna on July 10," said Meena.