LUCKNOW: The entire personnel of Sikandara police station in Agra were booked following the death of a 32-year-old man in custody. Earlier, an inspector and two sub-inspectors had been suspended in connection with the incident. Victim Hemant Kumar alias Raju Gupta was picked up by police from his rented house in Narendra Enclave on Gailana Road on the charges of theft on Wednesday evening after his neighbour alleged that he had stolen jewellery worth Rs 7 lakh from his house.
Raju’s mother Reenu Lata claimed that her son was mentally challenged and worked as a help at Anshul’s chemical shop. Anshul accused her son of theft and handed him over to police. She alleged that the cops thrashed her son in lockup in front of her despite her repeated pleas for mercy.
The mother also said that on Thursday morning she was called to the police station and her son was tortured in front of her inside the station. She claimed that she was dropped at home in the evening but her son was not released from the lock-up. At 9 pm, she was allegedly informed by the police that Raju was dead. On Friday, police video graphed Raju’s postmortem which was conducted by a panel of doctors at SN Medical College.
The autopsy report said that Raju’s death was caused due to myocardial infarction (heart attack) and minor injuries on the shoulder, arms and legs. According to SSP Agra, Amit Pathak, three police personnel, including Inspector Rishipal, Sub-Inspectors Anuj Sirohi and Tejveer Singh of Sikandra police station were suspended and an FIR was lodged against all those were on duty at the police station. Besides, two of the victim’s neighbours, Anshul Pratap Singh and Vivek were also booked in the case. The duo, however, has been absconding since the incident.