KOLKATA: The Kalighat police have registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, a day after the mysterious death of 25-year-old Shankar Mondal, who was allegedly assaulted around 2.45am on Sunday after being tied to a tree on SP Mukherjee Road-Gurudas Haldar Road crossing.The FIR has been lodged suo motu, claimed police, saying they were yet to receive a formal complaint from the Mondal family. The police said the decision to lodge the FIR was taken after initial verbal communication from autopsy surgeons, who carried out the post-mortem, revealed that Mondal had internal bruises.“There was no external injury, nor did the experts feel that the internal bruises were enough to cause death. In other words, it still cannot be called a lynching case. However, given the circumstances and witness accounts that Mondal was stripped and tied to a tree before being assaulted, we have lodged the FIR against unknown people,” said an officer.The police said that they would carry out the viscera test to find out if he was drugged or poisoned. “Since he carried no external injury, we want to be absolutely sure that he was not poisoned,” said an officer. DC (south) Meeraz Khalid said a case was drawn up based on the probe so far. “We have registered a case under IPC sections 304 and 34,” he said. Sources said the questioning of locals continued for the second consecutive day even as their statements were being verified with CCTV footage.The victim’s family members said they would lodge a complaint soon. “We have been told that he was tied to a tree. He was completely nude and was not even offered water when he begged for it. At least six men — mostly hawkers — and a few women assaulted him,” claimed Mangala Mondal, his mother.A probe team that had visited the spot were informed by witnesses that they had heard a commotion between 3am and 3.30am on Sunday. A local security guard claimed to have seen a man being assaulted. Sources claimed the names of a local hawker leader and his aides — all of them associated with Kalighat hawkers market — are doing the rounds for their alleged involvement. While locals claimed Mondal’s hands were tied from the back, cops neither confirmed nor denied the reports.

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