A 50-year-old police officer from Bihar was lynched by a mob while conducting a raid in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district in the wee hours of Saturday. In an unfortunate update to the incident, the mother of SHO Ashwini Kumar died of shock upon seeing the mortal remains of her son.
शहीद किशनगंज SHO की मां ने तोड़ा दम, बेटे की शहादत की खबर नहीं कर पाईं बर्दाश्त#Bihar #Kishanganj https://t.co/rJYCe3uJlt
— ABP BIHAR (@abpbihar) April 11, 2021
In a heart-wrenching incident, the mortal remains of the mother and the son were taken for the final rites together. On Saturday evening, Kumar’s mother had reached home from her maternal home. Soon after that, she got the tragic news of her son. Hearing it, she passed out, but she regained consciousness after her family members splashed water on her face. But unable to bear with the sudden loss, she passed away on Sunday morning.
Ashwini Kumar’s brother Praveen Kumar said that their mother is a heart patient for last 14-15 years, and she could not tolerate the news of her son’s death. Their father had died last year, and she had started to recover from that grief, when this incident happened. News of her son’s death totally broke her, and she died within 24 hours of her son’s death.
The family members of SHO Ashwini Kumar allege that he has been murdered under a conspiracy. They also questioned the police force that accompanied SHO Kumar on the delay in action to save him and why the West Bengal Police was not kept in the loop about the raid.
Kumar’s family even refused to accept his body after he was granted a gun salute at the police lines until they were assured of an SIT probe into the matter by Kishnaganj District Magistrate Aditya Prakash, Inspector General of Purnea Range Suresh Kumar Chowdhury and other top officials.
Seven police personnel, including Inspector Manish Kumar, have been suspended for negligence who abandoned SHO Kumar and fled from the spot of violence when the SHO was attacked by the mob. The suspended policemen include Raju Sahni, Akhileshwar Tiwari, Pramod Kumar Paswan, Ujjwal Kumar Paswan, Sunil Chaudhary and Sushil Kumar.
Arrests made till now
Three arrests have been made in the brutal lynching of inspector Ashwani Kumar. Feroze the main accused in the incident has been arrested along with his brother Abujar Alam and his mother Sahyannur Khatun.
IG of Purnia and SP of Kishanganj are camping at the scene to maintain law and order situation on ground.
SHO Ashwini Kumar’s mob lynching
Ashwini Kumar, station in charge of the Kishanganj police station, was known for his no-nonsense attitude and strict crackdown against the liquor crackdown. Kumar was leading a raid in connection with a bike theft case in a neighboring area under Panjipoda police station of West Bengal.
However, while conducting the raids, Kumar was surrounded by a mob and lynched brutally.
Subsequently, Kumar was rescued by a team of police personnel from the Panjipura outpost and rushed to the Islampur Sadar Hospital but was declared dead on arrival.
