Contai: A drunk sparked major mob violence in the coastal town of Contai in West Bengal’s East Midnapore district on Friday by digging up a skeleton from a cemetery and clicking selfies with it. The violence could have turned communal in nature had the police not intervened in time, officials said.
According to the police, trouble started after locals spotted a youth named Prabhakar Sit clicking selfies with what appeared to be a human skeleton. On closer examination, they came to realise that Sit had dug up a grave and exhumed the remains of a woman buried nearly seven years ago.
The youth was nabbed and a mob started thrashing him. A police team rushed to the spot on receiving information and tried to rescue Sit. The mob then turned their ire on the policemen and resorted to brick-batting. Three policemen received injuries.
“The mob was refusing to turn over the accused to us. They claimed that he had desecrated the grave with the purpose to hurt religious sentiments. However, it was clear that the youth was sozzled beyond his senses. There were some in the crowd who attempted to give the matter a communal twist. Finally, we managed to rescue Sit after a lot of trouble. A bottle of liquor was also found at the spot where he was sitting,” a police official said.
Sit was taken to the Kanthi Hospital for treatment before the police took him into custody.
“It seems that the youth was employed at a hotel in another state, but lost his job due to alcoholism. We are trying to ascertain the reason behind his bizarre act. A case has been registered against him. Police have also been posted in the area to prevent any escalation,” the official said.
