In a brazen show of insensitivity, the state police have allegedly demanded money from the family of a man who had hanged himself from a tree, towards charges for pulling down his body and transporting it to his home.
The incident happened at Indpur in Bankura district on Sunday, when Tapan Satpathy (35), a vocational teacher at the Raipur High School, was found hanging from a tree in the Maria forest.
His motorcycle was found parked near the tree and cash worth Rs 12,400 was recovered from the carrier of the vehicle. School authorities said Satpathy, a resident of Pilaboni village under the Simlapal police station in Bankura, was going to Bishnupur to deposit the money with the vocational training centre.
“When he didn’t return home on Saturday evening, we lodged a missing dairy with the local police. The next day, we were told that his body was found hanging from a tree in the forest,” Satpathy’s uncle Satyaban said.
Members of his family complained that the police had asked them to fork out Rs 600 to pull down Satpathy’s body from the tree and Rs 1,000 more for transporting it to his home.
Though a senior police officer admitted to the charges, Mukesh Kumar, SP, Bankura, denied the allegations. “The family was told to wait there as the police vehicle was busy in another assignment.” he told Deccan Herald.
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