‘False claim’, ‘minor injury’: West Bengal Police denies brutal assault led to death of CJP activist’s father

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The deceased’s son Sheikh Abdul Hafiz with his mother. Photo credit: X/AshutoshRanka

Two days after the death of Janab Malik, the father of a Cockroach Janata Party activist, after an alleged attack by some local Bharatiya Janata Party workers, the West Bengal Police, on Monday (August 17, 2026) night, denied the fact of brutal physical assault of the man. It said that the claim is ‘baseless and false’ as he sustained only ‘minor inury’.

This statement coincides with a visit by a delegate of CJP leaders, including its co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka, to the residence of deceased’s son Sheikh Abdul Hafiz, in Bankura’s Indus area on Monday (August 17) afternoon. They demanded that the police arrest all the ten unidentified accused in the FIR within next ten days.

By Sunday (August 16) night, the police also arrested eight persons in connection with the incident. All of them have been remanded to police custody for eight days.

On the night of August 13, a group of miscreants allegedly accosted Sk Abdul Hafiz alias Rik (25) at his residence in Indas, Bankura, in connection with Mr. Hafiz’s visit to Karisunda Paschimpara Primary School that morning. He enquired about the school’s facilities as part of the CJP’s ongoing nationwide ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign.

“During the incident, Rik’s father, Janab Mafik, sustained a minor injury that required a single stitch. On the morning of August 15, Sk Md Mafik got self-admitted to Burdwan Medical College after experiencing severe blood pressure fluctuations. No life-threatening injury was found by doctors who treated him. Sadly, Mr. Mafik passed away that night. Following his death, baseless and false claims began circulating online alleging that Mr. Mafik had died from a ‘brutal physical assault’,” West Bengal Police said in an official statement on X.

Bankura Police launched a thorough investigation and, acting on the FIR registered, arrested eight individuals — three named in the initial FIR and five additional suspects — all of whom have been remanded to eight days of police custody. Police said that active manhunts are underway for two remaining absconding suspects, and a police house guard has been placed at Mr. Hafiz’s residence.

“We request all to refrain from spreading misleading information in this regard and allow the investigation to proceed. Those spreading rumours will be sternly dealt with as per law,” the statement read.

CJP officials and Mr. Hafiz, however, stated that he had been intimidated by some goons backed by the local BJP MLA Nirmal Dhara, since he returned from the CJP’s 36-day-long protest in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar against the NEET-UG paper leak.

He claimed that they also called him a ‘Pakistani terrorist’. “On Thursday (August 13, 2026), they attacked me outside the home when my father came to save me. I went inside and locked the room, but my father was outside. They launched a brutal attack on him. They tried to hack me to death. I am living the life that my father donated me now,” said Mr.