BENGALURU: A city-based social activist has submitted a petition to the state police chief that the Ramamurthy Nagar police were involved in the death of a 33-year-old mason from Jharkhand. The petitioner said the police picked up the man as he was being beaten up by the public over suspicions of his being a child-lifter.
A few hours later, his body was found in the jurisdiction of the neighbouring KR Puram police station. The petition states that as the mason died after being picked up by the police, this amounted to custodial death. Senior officials, however, clarified that the allegations are baseless. Six people have been arrested for allegedly lynching the mason.
The victim, Sanjay Tudu from Jharkhand, was working in Ramamurthy Nagar. He was reportedly beaten up by the mob on September 23 on 1st Cross at Jyothi Puram in Dooravani Nagar under the Ramamurthy Nagar police limits. He was found dead on the footpath in ITI Colony in KR Puram police limits the next day and a case of unnatural death was registered. Further probe and postmortem findings made the police convert the case from unnatural death to murder on October 6.
V Paramesh, the social activist, submitted the petition on Thursday. He told TNIE that the victim was taken to the Ramamurthy Nagar police station in a Hoysala patrolling vehicle. “Though the person was assaulted, he was still able to walk and sit in the Hoysala jeep. But a few hours later, his body was found in the neighbouring police station limits. This is nothing but murder. The police have tampered with evidence by misusing their power. Only after the petition was filed, there was some development in the case. The erring police officials need to be punished,” he added.
‘Six arrested on lynching charges’
Reacting to the allegations against the police, Dr A Subramanyeswara Rao, Additional Commissioner of Police, Law and Order (East), told The New Indian Express that the place of assault and the place where the body was found is within 1.5 km radius.
“After the person was taken to the Ramamurthy Nagar police station, the station house officer (SHO) spoke to him for five to 10 minutes. But the person kept walking in and out of the police station. He then voluntarily walked out of the station which is clearly seen in the CCTV footage. Six people have been arrested for lynching and the investigation is continuing.”
Bheemashankar S Guled, DCP (East), under whose jurisdiction the Ramamurthy Nagar police station falls, said the allegations are false. “We have already established by internal inquiry that the police did not touch him. It was clear case of mob lynching suspecting child theft,” he added.
S Girish, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Whitefield division, in whose jurisdiction the KR Puram police station comes, told TNIE that the body was found on a footpath in ITI Colony. “No external injuries were found on the body. Initially, a case of unnatural death was registered. Then the investigation found that he was assaulted the previous day by some members of the public. We got in touch with the labour contractor under whom Tudu worked. The police contacted his wife in Jharkhand and informed her about the death. The postmortem report revealed that the injuries were sustained because of the assault, and then, it was converted into a murder case. After going through the CCTV footage, we have arrested six people,” he added.