Officer death after Diwali gamblers' chase - 21 charged with murder, although police say sub-inspector suffered cardiac arrest

Pal’s wife Ratna at MJN Hospital
on Wednesday. Pic: Main Uddin Chisti

TT, Cooch Behar, Nov. 11: A police sub-inspector was allegedly stoned during a gambling den raid last night that led to his death hours later and the arrest of 21 people.

While police sources said the officer collapsed in the car while making his escape with his colleagues, the family has alleged that he was murdered.

The arrested men were produced in the chief judicial magistrate’s court here today. Five have been remanded in police custody for 10 days and 16 have been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days, said a source. 

Sub-inspector Ranjit Pal, 57, was posted at Suktabari police outpost of Kotwali police station. 

Witnesses said that around 9.30pm yesterday, Pal and three constables reached Panisala Bazar where several groups were found gambling, a common practice during Diwali. 

“The area is dark with no street lamps and the groups light small oil lamps while gambling. Yesterday, the police reached the spot and asked the people to stop the game. An argument broke out followed by a scuffle. The men began chasing the policemen and throwing stones at them. The police ran to the car and left,” said resident of Panisala Bazar, 12km from here.

According to police sources, Pal collapsed in the car. “Pal fell unconscious and he was driven directly to the hospital around 10pm. He was admitted to the ICU,” said a source.

He was taken to MJN Hospital where he died around 10.30pm.

Last night Cooch Behar police superintendent Rajesh Kumar Yadav had said that Pal had died of “cardiac failure”, but the murder charge has been slapped against those arrested. 

“Twenty-one people have been arrested in connection with last night’s incident. The body of sub-inspector Ranjit Pal has been handed over to his family after a post-mortem. As far as the cause of death is concerned, we will know the truth after receiving the post-mortem report,” Yadav said today. 

All the 21 men were picked up last night. 

Pal’s family, however, did not agree with Yadav’s account. “I do not believe that my husband died because of cardiac failure. There were many marks of injury on the body, including the chest. My husband was murdered,” Pal’s wife Ratna said. 

The family stays at Bholardabri village in adjacent Alipurduar. Pal has two daughters.

Residents of the Panisala Bazaar area said the police ransacked at least 20 houses yesterday. 

“The police came and kicked down the door of my house. They took away my sons, Suleman and Saidar, and son-in-law Sariful Islam. They had nothing to do with the gambling dens. They are all farmers and they are innocent,” said Chhabiya Bibi of Panisala Bazaar.

The three are among the 21 arrested.

Khaleda Begum, also from the same area, said her father Habidul Rehman who runs a paan shop had fled. “The police entered our home and smashed the furniture and a motorbike. They even slapped my four-year-old daughter. Most of the men in the area have fled. All those who were arrested were not involved in yesterday’s incident,” she said.

Panisala Bazar area is in Natabari Assembly constituency. Rabindranath Ghosh, the Trinamul MLA and the party’s district president, said: “I have heard that the police raided houses, broke furniture and motorbikes. I condemn the act. The police should arrest those who had attacked the sub-inspector and other policemen accompanying him.”