The death of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporter Ullen Roy at Siliguri on Monday was due to the effects of shotgun injuries and police did not use shotguns, West Bengal Police said on Tuesday. In a series of tweets on Tuesday morning the police said that “obvious that during yesterday’s protest in Siliguri, armed persons were brought and they fired from firearm”.
The West Bengal police added that Criminal Investigation Department of West Bengal police would investigate the death.
“The deceased received pallet (pellet) injuries from a shotgun fired from close range by a person standing near the deceased in the protest program. This is unprecedented. Bringing armed persons in protest programs and inciting them to fire is unheard of,” the West Bengal Police tweeted referring to the post-mortem report.
The police also added that there “was a mala fide intention to create violence by the use of firearms”. “CID West Bengal has been asked to investigate. Truth will come out and strong action will be taken against all those who planned and executed the heinous crime,” the police added.
West Bengal BJP leadership raised questions on the hurried post-mortem and said that the family members of the deceased were being pressured to cremate the body at the earliest. Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said that if the firing was from the rally how did Ullen Roy receive injuries on his chest and not on his back. The 50-year-old BJP supporter had died during the party’s march to State Secretariat building in north Bengal on Monday.