Protestors torched a police station and beat up policemen after the recovery of the dead body of a minor girl from a pond at Gangoa village in Kaliyaganj of North Dinajpur on 21 April.
Furniture and documents in some rooms in the police station were completely damaged (SNS)
Section 144 has been extended to the Kaliyaganj police station area along with adjoining ward Nos 4,5,6 and 11 in Kaliyaganj municipality. Section 144 was initially imposed on Raiganj Police District at Karnajora and Bogram respectively after violence and arson in the area over the death of a minor girl.
So far, the police have already arrested 33 persons on the charge of torching a police station and attacking policemen.
The police is said to have recovered the dead body of the class XII student from a pond at Gangoa village in Kaliyaganj of North Dinajpur on 21 April. Family members and locals claimed that the girl was killed after rape.
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In the afternoon yesterday, hundreds of protesters, mostly hailing from tribal and Rajbanshi communities, demanding a CBI probe tried to storm Kaliyaganj police station. When the police intercepted them, they started pelting stones on the police station forcing the police to resort to lathicharge. Undeterred by the police action, an irate mob, breaking the boundary wall, entered the premises and torched the police station.
They burnt the furniture inside the police barrack to ash. Some police cars and numerous bikes were also burnt. Policemen in panic took shelter in nearby houses. The protesters followed them in the houses and beat the policemen brutally. Landlord of the house was also injured in the attack on the policemen. A video of the incident went viral on social media showing an agitating mob beating some policemen in a room.
The Superintendent of Police of Raiganj Police District Sana Akhtar said the situation has been brought under control. In order to restore peace section 144 has been extended to the areas near Kaliyaganj police station and in some important places at Karnajora of Raiganj, the district headquarter.
“We have already arrested 33 persons on the charge of attacking a police station in Kaliyaganj. All political parties were urged to avoid any political gathering in the district till the situation develops.
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