BENGALURU: A 28-year-old history-sheeter fell to his death in a bid to escape from the police in DJ Halli on Monday afternoon. The relatives of the deceased alleged that it was a case of ‘lock-up death’ as he died in police custody.
The deceased identified as P P Kaleem alias Pickpocket Kaleem, a resident of DJ Halli, was also an associate of Rowdy Anis. He was involved in several cases including a murder in DJ Halli police station limits over the last few years.
A senior police officer said that Kaleem was in the wanted list after he was involved in setting vehicles on fire in the locality a month ago and police were in search for him. Around 3.30pm, the staff of DJ Halli police station received an alert by the locals and based on a tip-off they went to nab him. In a bid to escape he jumped a compound wall adjacent to a busy road and fell down.
The police managed to rush him to a nearby private hospital for first aid but he succumbed from cardiac arrest due to severe injury on his chest.
A relative of Kaleem however alleged that Kaleem was taken into custody and he was assaulted by the police. “He succumbed inside the station and then they cooked up a story that he ran away to escape from police and fell to death.” An investigation is being carried out by a senior police officer and the body has been shifted to B R Amedkar hospital for post-mortem.