Kamduni undertrial dies in city hospital

KOLKATA/ NORTH 24-PARGANAS: One of the main accused in the Kamduni rape and murder case, Gopal Naskar, died at National Medical College and Hospital on Saturday morning.
Naskar (55), who was lodged at Alipore Central Jail as an undertrial, was taken to the hospital on Friday evening because of an infection in his leg. His death triggered a row as his family members alleged that police didn’t provide him with proper medical care and thereby allowed him to die.
The jail authorities remained tight-lipped about the reason behind Naskar’s death. But, sources said that Naskar had been suffering from diabetes and related kidney problems for long. The source also said that Naskar was earlier admitted to SSKM Hospital for treatment.
“He had been suffering from this leg infection for a long time. He was also admitted to SSKM for this. After a fortnight’s treatment, his condition improved and was brought back to the jail. However, he was regularly monitored by the jail doctors,” said a jail official.
On Friday, his infection aggravated and he was rushed to National Medical College and Hospital. Hospital authorities said the infection in Naskar’s leg had turned into gangrene, which caused his death.
However, Naskar’s relatives kept insisting that he was not given adequate care. “He had been suffering for a long time and the jail authorities did not care about his health. The authorities didn’t even bother to inform us when he was taken to hospital. We only came to know about everything after he had died on Saturday morning,” said Naskar’s elder sister Chintamoni.
Naskar’s family members also alleged that police didn’t give them the permission to bring his body to the village. They alleged that they were forced to perform the last rites in the city only.
“My husband was a part of the village and we wanted to bring the body to the village for the last time. But, they didn’t give the permission. We had to perform the last rites in Kolkata in the presence of police. This is very unfortunate,” said Naskar’s widow Rekha.
On June 7, 2013, a 20-year-old college student was brutally raped while she was returning home from college at Kamduni village in North 24-Parganas. She later died of her injuries. The incident triggered a huge controversy as the villagers sought justice. CID, which was investigating the case, arrested eight of the nine accused, including Saiful Ali, Ansar Ali, Amin Ali, Imanul Ali, Bhola Naskar, Aminur Islam, Gopal Naskar and Nur Ali. Hearing on the case is going on.