‘RPF cop was shot, not beaten to death’

“The incident is being probed by an ASP,” said Malda SP Prasun Banerjee. “We are investigating who fired the bullet. The RPF has lodged a complaint in connection to Samanta’s death but no arrests have been made till now,” said a police officer.

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The police are looking at two possibilities now — one, a section of hawkers might have snatched an automatic rifle form RPF jawans and fired on the constable and second, a RPF jawan’s rifle might have gone off accidentally.

Samanta was killed and three more RPF personnel injured on Monday when angry hawkers attacked the RPF office in Malda station, pelting brickbats and stones after one of them was barred from doing business.

Late Monday, a RPF inspector had lodged an FIR with the Englishbazar police station naming two persons for the violence. They were Sutapa Mukherjee — a BJP candidate from Malda’s ward 26 in the recent municipal polls and Subodh Chandra, president of Bengal Mazdoor Sangh, backed railway hawker’s unions in Malda.

Both however, denied that they were present at the Malda station during the incident.

On Tuesday, shops at the Malda railway station and its adjoining areas were shut as tension simmered.