LUCKNOW: A man in his twenties was found dead in a pond on Monday after he allegedly escaped from police custody in Bhadohi district. The man had been arrested for kidnapping a minor girl from another community.
While a purported suicide note was found a few metres from the pond accusing the girl and her family of driving him to take the extreme step, the deceased’s family refused to accept it as a case of death by suicide and alleged police negligence.
According to police sources, the Station House Officer (SHO) of the police station concerned, under whose jurisdiction the incident took place, was placed under suspension and a probe was ordered into the matter.
Bhadohi Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Shubham Agrawal said the inquiry was being conducted by him and that the victim’s father, a home guard constable, had been asked to file a complaint regarding the incident.
As per sources, a case was lodged against the victim 20 days ago for allegedly kidnapping a girl with the intention of luring her into premarital marriage. Police recovered the girl in Bhadohi on Thursday. She was produced before the court, her statement was recorded, and she was subsequently sent to a protection home.
District police sources said the victim was held two days ago. As it was the weekend, he was kept in custody and was scheduled to be produced in court on Monday.
However, in the early hours of Saturday, the youth was taken to the washroom on the station premises by the constable on duty, when he allegedly pushed the constable and fled. Police searched extensively but failed to trace him.
Later on Saturday, around 10 pm, a team from another police station, while patrolling, found some items, a wallet, a belt and a note, near a pond situated on temple premises.
Suspecting the items belonged to the missing man, they informed the concerned police station and a search was launched. Police recovered the youth’s body from the pond at around 7 am on Sunday, said ASP Agrawal.
Police said no injury marks were found on the body and the cause of death was suspected to be drowning.
In the suicide note, according to ASP Agrawal, the victim held the girl and her family responsible for “pushing him to commit suicide”. The purported note claimed that the girl had lied about being kidnapped and had gone with him of her own accord.
However, the youth’s brother alleged that he did not die by suicide and that the handwriting in the note was not his. He further alleged that the girl’s family had threatened to “destroy” his brother and that the police had yet to take any action in the case.