A first-year college student was beaten up and poisoned to death, allegedly by his girlfriend’s family, in Nadia after he refused to stop seeing her despite the family’s objections.

The girl, a Class IX student, tried to poison herself after hearing of the youth’s death. She was admitted to hospital and her condition is reported to be stable.

Samar Heera’s father, Shyamal Heera, lodged a police complaint on Wednesday accusing his son’s 15-year-old girlfriend, her parents and her elder brother of killing him and then abandoning him at a rural hospital in the district.

“Samar started seeing the girl a year ago. Last night, he received a call from her and left home on his motorcycle around 8pm,” Shyamal said .

“Around midnight, some relatives informed us that he had been admitted to hospital. We rushed there to find him beaten up and critically injured. He was murdered by the girl and her family,” the father of the 20-year-old said.

Samar, who succumbed to his injuries on Thursday morning, was ruthlessly beaten up by the father and brother of his girlfriend after they found the couple together on a riverbank, residents of the area said.

Villagers said they were alerted by screams on Wednesday night. “I stepped out to have a look, and saw two men beating up someone. I ran back inside immediately,” said a villager who did not want to be named.

“There were objections from the girl’s family for many reasons. They wield considerable clout in this area. The main objection was that she was too young for him,” said a local resident.

Police sources said a probe had been initiated. All members of the girl’s family are absconding, police said.

“We are waiting for the girl to recover so that we can record a statement. Given the nature of the incident, we are not ruling out the possibility of suicide by the youth,” said an officer.

However, the victim’s father refuted this. “He was a fun-loving boy and could not have committed suicide. The injury marks show the torture inflicted on him.”

Run over

A van hit a 23-year-old woman on NH116B in Mandarmani, East Midnapore, on Thursday.

Mitali Bar was walking along the highway when the accident occurred.

She was admitted to hospital where she later died, police said.