Tripura: Youth Arrested For Theft From ATM Found Dead In Police Custody; CM Biplab Deb Orders Magisterial Probe

A man who was arrested by the police on Friday in connection with theft of huge amounts of cash from ATMs using cloning devices in Tripura capital Agartala, was found dead in the police lock-up on Sunday (12 January) forcing the state government to order a magisterial inquiry.

A police official said that Sushanta Ghosh, who was arrested from his house at Lankamura on the outskirts of the city on Friday in connection with ATM theft, committed suicide at the West Agartala police station after midnight on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.

However, Ghosh's father Parimal Ghosh in his FIR with the police claimed that his son died following police torture. Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, who also holds the Home portfolio, on Sunday said that he has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.

Two Turkish and two Bangladeshi nationals were arrested at Belgharia (under North 24 Parganas district) in West Bengal in November for stealing huge amounts of cash from ATMs by cloning devices in Agartala.

As per the preliminary probe, the Turkish nationals along with their Bangladeshi collaborators had stolen Rs 50 lakh of around 80 bank customers of different banks mostly State Bank of India in November through ATM cloning devices in Guwahati in August and the same criminals could be involved in the hacking in Agartala.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)