Youth's death sparks body politics, again

KOLKATA: The mysterious death of a student has triggered a fresh round of body politics, with the Trinamool Congress claiming he was a member of its students’ wing and accusing the SFI of “murder”.
Kajal Kiran Mondal, a second-year student of Dinabandhu Andrews College in Garia, was found dead late on Sunday next to railway tracks between Garia and Narendrapur stations.There were deep wounds on his head.
By Wednesday morning, Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) members had taken over, claiming Mondal was an active member and the SFI was behind the “murder”. During the day, TMCP activists carried the body in a procession and blocked the Sealdah flyover twice. They also burnt an effigy of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
It is still not clear what caused Mondal’s death. His father Kanak said Mondal had left home at Garagachha after getting a phone call on Sunday evening. When he did not return, the family lodged a missing complaint with Sonarpur police station.
On Tuesday, Kanak went to the Jadavpur GRP station, where he got to know that a body matching his son’s description had been found. He later identified Mondal at Nilratan Sircar Medical College.
TMCP chairman Baishanar Chatterjee said: “Mondal was an active member of our wing. He contested college elections as a TCP candidate. For past few months, he had been threatened over the phone and asked to sever ties with our party.” SFI leaders branded these claims as “cheap politics”.
SFI rubbishes charge
Hours after identifying Mondal’s body, his father Kanak lodged an FIR at Sonarpur police station in the presence of TMCP leaders, claiming that his son had been “murdered by SFI goons”. “We found some injury marks on his head. We believe CPM-led goons killed my son as he was attached to TMCP,” said Kanak in his complaint.
Abhijit Dey, a TMCP leader from Dinabandhu Andrews, claimed Mondal was actively campaigning for the party at Baghajatin Sammilani College, which is why he was murdered by SFI. His phone is missing, which led TMCP to say that it had been taken away after the murder.
Apart from the processions on Wednesday with Mondal’s body, TMCP has also decided to observe Thursday as a black day. SFI though has rubbished the charges. “This is nothing but cheap politics. SFI has no connection with the death, though he may have been from our rival organisation. We want a proper investigation and believe that would help bring out the truth,” said Subrata Naiya, a state committee member of SFI.
Government Railway Police officers felt Mondal was probably not murdered. “ He was found two feet from the Up track at Simultala, between Garia and Narendrapur,” said an investigator. “The injury marks on his head could be the result of an accident,” said an autopsy surgeon.
It’s not unnatural that Mondal’s phone could not be found on his person, said police. In many cases, people who spot the body before police arrive pick up the cellphone. “Something similar happened in the Rizwanur Rahman case. His cellphone was not found from the accident site,” said another investigator.
A probe has hinted that Mondal was having an affair and might have gone to Narendrapur to meet the girl.