The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday took on record the post-mortem report of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) youth leader Arjun Chaurasia, who was found dead in Kolkata last week under mysterious circumstances.
A division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj had on May 6 directed Kolkata’s Command Hospital to do a post-mortem. The report was presented before the division bench during the day. The court noted in its order that “the cause of death to the best of our knowledge is hanging. Ligature mark on the neck is ante mortem”.
The Court directed that the post-mortem report be handed over to Advocate General S.N. Mookherjee representing the West Bengal government.
The State BJP leadership, however, insisted that it was murder. BJP leader Priyanka Tibrewal, who is also appearing in the Court on behalf of the family, said that circumstantial evidence suggested that he was killed. ”The feet was touching the ground and if he had hung himself there must have been a chair or stool. Where did that disappear?” she said.
The body of Arjun Chaurasia was found in an abandoned Railway quarters near his residence on May 6. His family and the State BJP leadership alleged that it was a “political murder”. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who visited Arjun Chaurasia’s residence in north Kolkata the same day, also said it was a political murder and demanded an investigation by the CBI.
Meanwhile, Kolkata Police, which is investigating the matter, will continue to probe the case . The State Government has already constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT). The matter will come up again for hearing on May 19. The family has demanded a CBI probe.
Poll violence victims
In a related development, the State unit of the BJP held a meeting with the family members of the victims of post-poll violence. State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari were among the leaders who went to the Raj Bhawan along with victims. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar accepted a memorandum submitted by the BJP.
The BJP leadership, among other issues, demanded monetary compensation for the victims. Governor Dhankhar pointed out that compensation was given to the survivors of Bogtui violence in Birbhum and said he would speak to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. “Expect WB Govt to be even-handed in imparting healing touch to violence victims as discrimination is unconstitutional,” he tweeted.
The Trinamool Congress criticised both the BJP leadership and the Governor. While a section of party leaders targeted Union Home Minister Amit Shah for dubbing BJP leader’s death a “political murder”, party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that the Governor had turned Raj Bhawan into a “stage” for the BJP.
