‘Dead’ woman in court to prove she’s alive

KOLKATA: A woman from Bongaon on Thursday moved Calcutta high court seeking to rectify a false report that said she died on May 10, 2014. Manju Adhikari also wanted a fresh probe into the murder of her nephew, Soumya Biswas, killed in July 2013. Justice Ranjit Kumar Bag listed the matter to be heard on Monday.

Manju's counsel Phiroze Edulji submitted that investigation into Soumya's murder was getting affected due to misrepresentation of facts.

Soumya (22) was additional general secretary of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad-run students' union in his college. On his birthday, on July 29, 2013, he left home with Rakesh Bairagi, another resident of Bongaon. A couple of hours later, when Manju went to Bairagi's residence to look for her nephew, she was told that he had left.

Even as she stood there, Manju heard a scream. A while later, she spotted Bairagi, his son Himanshu alias Himu and a few others walking down the road. The Bairagis were carrying firearms. Manju was told that if she did not leave the spot, she would be killed.

On the way back, Manju met Sandip Debnath who claimed he had witnessed Soumya's murder. However, Debnath was not included in the list of witnesses by the prosecution.

Late that night, Manju went to the Bongaon police station to lodge an FIR. Inspector-in-charge Chandra Sekhar Dash heard her version and made her sign a blank piece of paper, assuring that her statement would be noted down later. When Soumya's best friend Dipankar Ghosh went to the police station later to inquire about the dead youth, Dash dictated a version and made him write it down as the FIR on the blank page signed by Manju. Murder charges were then brought against Sudipta Sarkar and Himamshu.

Himanshu died soon after this, and a search of his house led to the recovery of a pistol, cartridges and other incriminating evidence.

However, on December 10, 2014, based on a submission by an advocate, the additional district and session's judge, Fast Track Court - 2, Bongaon, declared that Manju — a witness in the case — had died on May 10 that year.

On May 15, when Manju went to court to ask about the progress in the investigation, she was informed that the probe had culminated.

According to Edulji, this was "ex-facie, unfair, tainted, malafide and smacked of foul play" as his client had not even been informed of the proceedings.

Manju had then sought a CID probe but the trial court turned it down. She finally moved the high court on Thursday.