Samserganj encounter: Civil Rights group’s report flags loopholes; demands CID officers’ suspension

Days after a 40-year-old man accused in the murder of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker in Murshidabad was killed in a police encounter, the civil rights group, Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) flagged several loopholes in the action. It demanded the suspension of all the police officers of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) involved in the case. 

Samaul Sheikh, who was a key accused in the murder of BJP worker Sujit Mondal on August 28, was shot dead in a gunfight with police in Murshidabad at around 3 p.m. on October 27.

According to the police, the accused, Sheikh, was taken to a place in Dhulian under Murshidabad’s Samserganj police station to reconstruct the crime. However, he allegedly snatched the service weapon of an officer and tried to flee the spot. He died in retaliatory firing during the incident

A seven-member APDR team reached the spot on November 2 to probe the matter. In its fact-finding report published on Friday (November 6, 2026), the organisation questioned the absence of CCTV cameras at the spot, position of the bullet shot on Sheikh’s head, and keeping his family in dark before taking him to the crime scene. 

According to the APDR, the encounter took place in a small room on the second floor of a building located in a market area. “We spoke to some shopkeepers and found that the police took all the CCTV cameras from the area on August 28. They are not installed as of now. Therefore, there is no record of the movement of the police during the incident,” APDR said in its report. 

It also said that there was only one bullet mark right above Sheikh’s ear, as his family members reported. APDR questioned why there was no other injury mark that might have indicated the clash between the police and Sheikh when he was trying to flee.

“It’s such a small room that it’s not easy to flee. Why couldn’t the police shoot at his leg or stop him by using physical force? It looks like that SheikhS was made to sit on his knees and was shot from a point-blank range,” said APDR. 

A day before the encounter, Sheikh’s family members went to visit him at the jail, but they were still not informed that he would be taken to the crime scene the next day for investigation. 

APDR also stated that the police have yet to recover the body of Sujit Mondal. “They only found a portion of a chopped leg. It is still not confirmed whether it belongs to Sujit. Sheikh’s family members alleged that the police falsely implicated him in the case. The investigation is also pending. It seems Sheikh’s killing was pre-planned.”

The organisation demanded that the government initiate a judicial inquiry into the matter under the supervision of a judge from the Calcutta High Court. They also demanded that all the CID officers present that day during the encounter. A second autopsy of Sheikh’s body at a hospital under the central government and compensation of Rs 50 lakh to his family members are also among their key demands. 

About 12 hours before Sheikh’s death, Prahlad Das, accused of raping and murdering a minor girl in North 24 Parganas’ Gaighata, was shot dead in an encounter at around 3.30 a.m. This is also the third such incident in the State in four months, since the BJP government came to power. On July 8, a similar encounter took place in the South 24 Parganas Baruipur area, when police took Prabhas Mondal, the prime accused in the rape and murder of a minor girl, to reconstruct the crime scene.