Siliguri, July 10: A police officer has been accused of assaulting a man whose Chevrolet Tavera had been stolen for allegedly “misleading forces”.

Additional superintendent of police Humayun Kabir denied thrashing businessman Gautam Sen. “He came to my office in Kalimpong with a woman tantrik and insisted that she knew where the stolen vehicle was. We set up checkpoints at various places, but in vain,” Kabir said.

Sen’s car went missing last Wednesday. His driver, Rajen Naser, was found dead the day after. “On Sunday, my brother took a Maruti van and went to the Dooars in search of his car and spotted it. Five persons were inside,” Sen’s brother said. Sen called Kabir but the vehicle apparently sped away before the police arrived. Kabir apparently called Sen to his office after that.

“I was asked to sing We Shall Overcome, while he beat me up for misleading his forces,” he said from hospital.

The police admitted he lost consciousness in the police station, but the hospital said no injury marks were found on him.