Presi probe panel unhappy with cops

Police have been accused of not cooperating with a committee appointed by the state human rights commission to probe last month’s vandalism on the Presidency campus.

The head of the probe panel and a former principal of the erstwhile Presidency College, Amal Mukhopadhyay, on Thursday expressed disappointment over the attitude of police, specially the OC of Jorasanko police station, Siddhartha Dutta. “I have not got the kind of cooperation I had expected from the police. I am also not happy with the accounts of some policemen,” Mukhopadhyay said during a visit to the campus.

Mukhopadhyay questioned three cops — the officer-in-charge and two constables of Jorasanko police station — who were on the campus when Trinamul supporters allegedly forced their way in.

“The OC of Jorasanko police station said he would let us know when he would be free to talk to us. But he did not have the courtesy to tell us that he was unable to meet. I had to call up the home secretary, who is also a former student of Presidency, to tell him that I needed to talk to the police and that they were not cooperating with me.”

“It was only after a new notification of the commission that mentioned me as the probe head that the home department facilitated the meetings with the police,” he said.

The panel head said he was at Presidency on Thursday to verify conflicting accounts from the police, Jorasanko OC Dutta in particular, and the college administration, staff and students. “Which is true and which is not, we cannot say now. We need to cross-examine,” Mukhopadhyay said.