PATNA: In a first, eight retired director generals of police of different states shot off a letter to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday requesting him to ensure ‘prompt action’ against people responsible for custodial deaths of two suspects in Bihar.
On March 7, two suspects of a murder-cum-loot case — Mohammad Gufran Alam (30) and Mohhamad Taslim Ansari (35) — died in the custody of Sitamarhi police in Bihar after they were picked up on March 6.
The suspects were admitted in a critical condition at a Sitamarhi hospital after complaints of medical complications. They succumbed to their injuries allegedly after being tortured during interrogation by the police on the night of March 6.
The deaths had triggered a violent protest in Sitamarhi and a case of murder was lodged against eight cops, including the SHO of Dumra PS. They were arrested on the orders of ADG (HQ) at Patna but they mysteriously managed to escape from the police station and are still at large.
The state police headquarters taking a strong exception to this incident immediately removed the SP of Sitamarhi, who had just joined the post.
According to sources, former DGPs who have signed the letter include Julio Ribiero (Punjab), Prakash Singh (Assam), PKH Tharakan and Jacob Punnoose (both Kerala), Kamal Kr (Andhra Pradesh, Sanjiv Dayal (Maharashtra), Jayanto N Chaudhary (Assam) and N Ramchandra (Meghalaya).
They urged the Bihar CM to take all efforts to nab the absconding policemen to retain the trust of people and uphold the rule of law. They have stated that such methods of interrogation by police cannot be condoned.Despite frequent attempts, official confirmation on whether the letter was received or not, could not be obtained.