BENGALURU: Four policemen, including a head constable, who were working in the JB Nagar police station, have been convicted by a special court in connection with the custodial death of a 42-year-old domestic worker in 2016.
Mahendra Singh Rathod, the domestic worker, had died in police custody during interrogation in a theft case. The four policemen were accused of causing Rathod’s death. The four policemen were convicted by the CID Special court on Tuesday.
Police head constable Ajaz Khan, police constables Keshav Murthy, Mohan Ram, and Siddappa Bommanahalli are convicted to undergo seven years of simple imprisonment and levied a fine of Rs 55,000 each. Out of the total fine amount of all the accused, Rs 2 lakh shall be paid to the dependents of deceased Rathod after proper identification of dependents.
Ajaz Khan is presently working in the Halasuru traffic police station, Keshava Murthy in Ramamurthy Nagar, Mohan Ram in Indiranagar traffic, and Siddappa Bommanahalli in Indiranagar police stations.
Rathod, a native of Odisha, was taken into custody by the JB Nagar police on March 19, 2016, on suspicion of committing theft at the house of his employer, a businessman. The victim, who had been working for over 12 years, was accused of stealing Rs 3.5 lakh in cash.
After his death, CCTV footage of the police station showed Rathod was normal while entering the interrogation room. After some time, he had collapsed and was declared dead on arrival by the doctors of a nearby hospital. After the death, the police had registered a case of unnatural death.
The then JB Nagar police inspector Hitendra and police sub-inspector Rajashekar were also suspended along with the four convicted policemen for dereliction of duty.
The case was transferred to CID, which found evidence of physical assault on Rathod, who was an anaemia patient. The case was then changed to culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The four policemen were booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession.