Teens’ enmity set off Basirhat riots’ chain

PROBE REVEALED THAT SUMAN DID NOT POST THE MORPHED PICTURE. HIS FRIEND PRANTIK, WITH WHOM HE HAD A FALLINGOUT, POSTED IT FROM SUMAN’S EARLIER ACCOUNT OF WHICH HE KNEW THE PASSWORD

KOLKATA: A quarrel between two teenagers was at the root of the blasphemous Facebook post on July 2 that triggered communal clashes in West Bengal’s Baduria-Basirhat areas, leaving one dead and more than a dozen people injured, investigators have found.

The probe revealed that Suman (name changed), the 17-year-old boy from whose profile the morphed photo was posted, did not post it.

A special team of officers from North 24 Parganas police and the special operation group of CID is investigating the case.w

“Suman had two Facebook profiles. The first one was opened with the help of his onetime friend Prantik (name changed), who knew the password. Later, the two had a falling-out and Prantik changed the password of Suman’s profile. This forced Suman to open a new account, and was also unable to delete the former account.

“On July 2, Prantik posted the photo from Suman’s first account and tagged the second account with it. The entire blame fell on Suman,” an investigating officer told Hindustan Times on condition of anonymity.

The communal flare-up that took place afterwards continued for almost a week. The police have so far arrested more than 100 people in connection with the violence.

“Right from the time of his arrest, Suman maintained that he did not post the morphed picture. Later he named Prantik as a suspect. It took some time to ascertain if Prantik, indeed, could have had some role.

“In the meantime, Prantik left the area. Around August 8-9, he got a call from his school, asking him to appear for registration for the higher secondary exam. He was returning along with his elder sister and some other relatives. We picked him up when the train entered Asansol station,” an investigating officer said.

Incidentally, the police treated both the minors as adults, slapping charges of deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, and for publishing obscene material.