"My baba is gone," whispered Indrajit’s mother in between inconsolable sobs, her voice breaking under a weight no parent is ever meant to bear. Her son, 36-year-old Indrajit Mondal, was an ordinary auto driver whose life was violently snuffed out on Sunday when an enraged mob lynched him to death. In the immediate, aftermath of the brutal rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl, rumours had spread like wildfire, painting Indrajit as one of the accused. Driven by blind fury, the crowd dragged him from his home and lynched him in the street; yet, a subsequent police investigation has officially established that he was completely innocent.
Inside the suffocating stillness of Indrajit Mondal’s two-room house of very modest means, a pall of gloom has descended. On the wall hangs an array of pictures of Ma Kali and Ma Durga, looking down on a family thoroughly shattered. Today is the day of the shradh, the final funeral rites, and a local barber gently touches a nail cutter to Indrajit’s frail, elderly mother’s nail to begin the ritual. She remains entirely unphased, nothing in this world seems consequential enough to perturb her now.
"My son was completely innocent, and now he is no more," she managed to cough up between tears streaming down her hollow cheeks. "I simply do not know how I am supposed to survive this, or how to even breathe anymore... a part of me has died with him. He wasn't even married yet; an entire lifetime of dreams, love, and a family of his own lay ahead of him. In a single moment of madness, everything was brutally snapped short. I look up and ask God, what did I ever do to deserve such a cruel punishment? What unspeakable crime did my gentle baba commit to deserve such a horrific, merciless fate?" she sobbed inconsolably.
Not even 500 metres away stands the home of an 11-year-old girl whose brutal gang-rape and murder sparked a wave of monstrous fury across the town. On Sunday, that fury mistakenly arrived at the Mondals' doorstep. Locals claim that a buzz spread withing the angry mob, mapping Indrajit to the crime, and then they dragged him out of his house and lynched the 36-year-old to death.
His father, now moving mechanically through the house to keep himself busy with the chores for the shradh ceremony of his own son, painfully recollected the horror. "He was at home with us on Saturday night; how on earth could he have committed such a heinous crime?" the father asked, his hands trembling.
"When that angry mob came banging violently on our door, I pleaded with them, telling them my son was fast asleep in his bed. Indrajit was just a hardworking auto driver, he’d been out on the roads all day Saturday and came back in the evening. From that moment on, he never left the house; he was right here, having a quiet chat with his mother. But they refused to listen, demanding I hand him over to the crowd,” he recollected.
In a bid to bargain for his son's life, the father made a desperate vow to the mob. "Out of sheer desperation, I told them that if the allegations against him were ever proven true, I would kill him with my own two hands. But they wouldn't relent. The mob dragged my boy out into the street and lynched him. This ultimate catastrophe unfolded in a matter of mere seconds, and I was entirely helpless to stop it."
He paused, swallowing the bitter irony of the tragedy. "Look, I understand why the public was angry, the crime against that poor little girl was so monstrous it was bound to ignite fury. A child is gone, and it is a tragedy. But my son had absolutely nothing to do with it. His only misfortune was that he knew Ananda, that’s all. A horrific, baseless misunderstanding took his life away from us."
Outside, the air hummed with intrusive media frenzy. Dealing with the onslaught of reporters was Bapi Mondal, Indrajit’s brother, whose grief had hardened into absolute defiance. He has time and again declared to the cameras that he will gladly go to the gallows if the police can prove a single shred of his brother's guilt.
"He was the backbone of this family, earning a substantial amount to cover our household expenses and even paying for his little nephew’s upbringing," Bapi said, gesturing to the remnants of their livelihood. "The grief we are feeling right now is utterly unimaginable, far too heavy for any of us to carry. Our lives are completely shattered, and all I want now is proper justice. I want justice for that poor little girl, but I demand justice for my brother as well."
The police have since confirmed the family's worst nightmare: Indrajit Mondal was entirely innocent. The 11-year-old girl's autopsy report painted a grim picture of her final moments, confirming sexual assault, severe head injuries, and trauma across her body. The discovery of her dead body on Sunday triggered a wave of violent protests across Baruipur’s Surjapur area, with hundreds of locals blocking railway tracks and roads in protest.
The police have now arrested four suspects: Pravash Mondal, Ananda Sardar, Dibakar Sardar, and Kabir Mollah. In a further development, Pravash Mondal was killed in a police encounter during a crime scene reconstruction, after attempting to flee by snatching an officer's revolver.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari visited the bereaved Mondal family to offer his condolences, officially vindicating the deceased auto driver. "The youth killed in the mob lynching, Indrajit Mondal, was innocent. This is what the police told me; these are not my words. He will also get justice. I have met his family members also," Adhikari told reporters, adding that those involved in the lynching would face outright murder charges.
At least 20 people have been detained for the vandalism and railway blockades, with police identifying several of them as active participants in the mob that murdered Indrajit. Director General of Police Sidd Nath Gupta has been ordered to submit a comprehensive report within 72 hours, with Adhikari asserting that "no one will be spared," including opposition elements accused of instigating the violence on social media.
