Trinamool Congress demands Buddhadeb's arrest

Kolkata, Jan 2 (IANS) West Bengal's main opposition Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Friday demanded the arrest of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for the murder of Muslim youth Rizwanur Rahman.

Raising a fresh storm in the political arena, Banerjee said that Rizwanur did not commit suicide, but was murdered with the help of the police force.

'We demand the arrest of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who is also the home minister of the state. He was solely responsible for the murder of Rizwanur,' the Trinamool supremo said at a press conference at her south Kolkata residence.

She said a team, comprising all Trinamool Congress legislators, would soon meet Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi at Raj Bhavan and demand Bhattacharjee's arrest for Rizwanur's mysterious death.

'We'll meet Gandhi in the next couple of days,' Mamata Banerjee added.

Rizwanur, a 30-year-old graphic designer working with a multimedia firm, was found dead Sep 21, 2007, near the railway tracks at Patipukur near Dum Dum, barely a month after marrying Priyanka Todi, daughter of Kolkata businessman Ashok Todi.

The death unleashed an unprecedented outcry for justice in civil society, with many accusing the ruling Left Front government in West Bengal of shielding the tainted policemen behind the case.

Several police officers, including then city police top cop, were later removed from their posts for their alleged role in Rizwanur's death and bringing pressure on the youth to opt out of the marriage at the behest of Todi.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge sheet against Todi along with six others for alleged abetment of the suicide. Todi was remanded to judicial custody by a city court Dec 1, following his surrender on a Supreme Court directive.