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| Battered police image takes further beating, one more custodial death alleged | | Gajansoo PP incharge, 3 cops suspended as family protests, blocks road at Bakshi Nagar; probe ordered | | Bharat Bhushan
JAMMU, Nov 3: The already battered image of overbearing Jammu police took a further beating Wednesday when a 26-year-old youth died after being allegedly tortured in the lock-up of Gajansoo police post.
Angered family and relatives first protested outside the mortuary of GMC hospital here and later on the Bakshi Nagar road outside, prompting police to order the suspension of Gajansoo PP incharge Om Prakash Sharma, Havaldar Mast Ram and two cops.
Vijay alias Lilli (26), son of Puran Chand, was picked up by police from a field outside his residence at Galvadechak, Gajansoo, Tuesday at about 6 pm for interrogation in a theft case.
He was kept in the lock-up of Gajansoo PP where he was put to sustained interrogation, alleges family.
Vijay's elder brother Kuldeep, an employee of a private hospital at Talab Tillo, alleged that he had been tortured to death by police in custody.
He said after Vijay's apprehension, his father and grandfather went to the police post to enquire about the reason behind his capture. The cops told them that he was a suspect in a theft case and would be released after questioning, he claimed.
Kuldeep alleged that on Wednesday morning, someone from the police post came to their residence and asked them to take Vijay home in lieu of Rs 2,000.
"However, when we went to the police post, cops took our signatures on a white sheet of paper and informed that Vijay had fled their custody at about 11.30 am," he said.
It was not possible for anyone to scale the high boundary wall of the police post which was further protected by barbed-wire, Kuldeep added.
He said Vijay's body was recovered from a field in the village Wednesday at about 6.30 pm.
The body was then shifted by police to the mortuary of GMC hospital. On family demand, a Board of Doctors was constituted by the district administration to conduct a post-mortem on the body.
The board doctors included Dr Ruchi Khajuria (pathology), Dr Rahul Gupta (surgery) and Dr Jyoti (medicines).
While the post-mortem was in progress, the family members and relatives, who sat outside the mortuary, were informed that a packet of intoxicant capsules had been found on the body.
This raised their tempers. And, they had a valid reason for it. Kuldeep said before shifting the body to the hospital mortuary, police had frisked it fully and told them that nothing was found on it.
"How have the police recovered the capsules now?" he asked, saying that it smacked of some foul play.
The angry family and relatives were now up in arms. Raising anti-police slogans, they marched towards the Bakshi Nagar road outside and squatted in the middle of it at about 2 pm and blocked it to vehicular traffic.
They were demanding a probe into the death and action against the cops who, according to them, were involved in the Vijay's death allegedly at the police post.
SP (rural) Rajesh Sharma later visited the protesters and told them that Gajansoo PP incharge Om Prakash, Havaldar Mast Ram and two cops had been suspended for "dereliction of duty".
On his intervention, they dispersed peacefully and took the body home where it was consigned to flames as per the religious rites.
Rajesh reitrated that Vijay had fled the police post. His body was recovered from the field and he was not killed in custody, he added.
He said a probe had been ordered and he himself would be enquiring into the circumstances "that led to his escape from the police post".
The SDPO concerned would be probing into the other aspects of the case, he informed.
Vijay had been arrested by police earlier on several occasions for his alleged involvement in the smuggling of intoxicant capsules. He was a minibus driver by profession.
His another brother -- Tarsem -- is a tailor. The family is very poor. Puran himself is a farmer.
Two months, or so back, alleged trans-border smuggler Sarfu was also alleged to have died in police custody. |
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