The Hindu : New Delhi News : Mystery shrouds death in lock-up

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Mystery shrouds death in lock-up

Staff Reporter

Man hanged himself with his trousers, say police

ANGUISH: Family members of the victim, Sunil, outside the Adarsh Nagar Police Station in the Capital on Tuesday. Photo: Sandeep Saxena

NEW DELHI: A young man died under mysterious circumstances inside the Adarsh Nagar police station lock-up in North-West Delhi in the early hours of Tuesday. While the police claim that he hanged himself with his trousers, his relatives allege that he was tortured to death by the police. There was another person inside the lock-up who "did not see or hear anything".

The police said that around 3-45 a.m. the sentry of the lock-up, who had gone to relieve himself, returned and saw Sunil hanging from the lock-up's iron grill. The police called his relatives to the police station some two hours later.

According to the police, Sunil was first rounded up on Sunday when he was seen fighting with someone in Azadpur Sabzi Mandi. "But he escaped from police custody. He was again spotted in the same area on Monday night, brought to the police station and booked under Section 107 of the Criminal Procedure Code," said the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Sagar Preet Hooda.

Mr. Hooda said there was another ruffian lodged in the lock-up, Madhav Prasad, who in his statement said that Sunil told him that he could help him escape from police custody as he had the keys to the lock-up. "When the incident occurred, Madhav, who is a smack addict, claimed that he was sound asleep and he did not hear anything,'' said Mr. Hooda.

While the area Additional-Divisional Magistrate has initiated an inquiry into the incident, the lock-up sentry, Sri Bhagwan, and the duty officer, Ranbir Singh, have been suspended for negligence. The police claimed that since the sentry was not near the lock-up, no one actually saw Sunil commit suicide. But they had no explanation as to why the closed-circuit camera installed outside the lock-up was not being monitored.

The police claimed that Sunil's mother, Santosh, said in her statement that he was addicted to bhang and his conduct had been a constant source of problem to the family. But Santosh and her relatives told the media that she was made to put her thumb impression on plain papers. They claimed that Sunil was picked up around 10-30 a.m. on Sunday, after which he was taken to the Azadpur Mandi police post. "On Monday morning, some police personnel brought him back and again took him along asking his parents to arrange about Rs. 5,000 for his release," alleged a relative.

"We did not go to the police post as we did not have any money. This morning, we were called to the police station and later informed that Sunil had committed suicide," said his father Rajender.

Meanwhile, angered over the custodial death, Sunil's neighbours blocked traffic and hurled stones at the police party around 5 p.m., injuring seven of them.

Earlier this year, two cases of custodial deaths were reported from different parts of the Capital. A man hanged himself in the bathroom of the Shanti Nagar police post in Keshav Puram and the other was killed allegedly due to excessive beating at the Shahdara police station.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi