Trinamool-BJP spar over post-mortem of BJP youth leader

Kolkata, May 7

A fresh political mud-slinging has erupted between the ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition BJP over the post-mortem of BJP youth leader Arjun Chaurasia at Kolkata's Command Hospital.

Trinamool leadership has expressed doubts over the authenticity of the Command Hospital's post-mortem report which is yet to be made public.

Chaurasia was found hanging mysteriously at an abandoned room near his residence at Cossipore in the northern neighbourhood of Kolkata. The post-mortem was conducted at Kolkata's Command Hospital on Saturday, following an order of a division bench of the Calcutta High Court.

Two doctors, one each from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Kalyani in Nadia district and state- run RG Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata were present during the autopsy.

State Transport Minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim expressed doubts on how authentic the post-mortem report from Command Hospital will be. "On Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in Kolkata that Chaurasia was murdered. After all, the Command Hospital is a central government outfit. When the Union home minister has already described the death as murder, will anyone in Command Hospital have the temerity to defy that. Actually, the murder theory was floated in advance to create pressure on the post mortem authorities. I request the honourable court to look into this aspect," Hakim said.

Firhad's comment was countered by senior state BJP leader Kalyan Choubey who said that the post-mortem was conducted following an order of the division bench of the Calcutta High Court chief justice. "Even a representative from state-run RG Kar Medical College & Hospital was present during the autopsy. A representative from AIIMS, Kalyani was also present there. So, the doubts expressed by Firhad Hakim were baseless," Choubey said.

After the completion of post-mortem, Chaurasia's body was first to BJP's state headquarters in Central Kolkata, where senior party leaders paid floral tributes. From there, it was first taken to his residence at Cossipore and finally to a crematorium in North Kolkata.

The BJP leaders have once again raised the demand for a CBI probe in the case.