Kolkata: A 24-year-old Left student leader died in police custody and another is in critical condition, after undergoing a seven-hour surgery, according to reports. Their friends allege that the police beat them brutally after they courted arrest.

Sudipto Gupta was among hundreds of Students Federation of India (SFI) activists who courted arrest on Tuesday afternoon during a protest against the Mamata Banerjee government’s decision to put off college union elections.

The police, who bundled the students into buses and took them to jail, claim that Gupta hit his head on an electricity pole as he was getting out of a bus. But SFI activists who were present there allege that the police rained blows on him with batons after pushing him off the bus.

Gupta was rushed to hospital, where he died. His friends have alleged there was a delay in his treatment. The autopsy report is expected today. Another student’s arm was almost severed, allegedly when the police smashed it through the window of a bus. 

The SFI is the students’ wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).  The CPI has slammed Mamata Banerjee. “It’s very clear what level the Mamata Banerjee government can sink to. This is an attack on democracy,” said CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu.

Congress leader and Union Minister Manish Tewari said he was “personally disturbed” by the student leader’s death.  “The time has come to lay down a protocol on how the police should deal with peaceful protesters,” Mr Tewari said. “We need to rise above political partisanship. I don’t want to score brownie points against the Trinamool Congress.”