To ensure fair investigation into the alleged custodial death of chain snatcher Rajnish alias lala in Dalanwala police station on Sunday, Garhwal Range Deputy Inspector of Police Amit Sinha has appointed Haridwar Circle officer Chandra Mohan Singh as investigating officer.
The cause of death could not be ascertained by the postmortem examination so the police have opted for viscera test. For this, the samples will be sent to Forensic Science laboratory, lucknow.
Police sources said that sudden enlargement of heart might have caused his death. “lala was under influence of smack when he was detained by the police, which had increased the probability of his death being caused by a drug overdose,” claimed a senior police officer.
If it was the case then why police did not conduct his medical fitnessIJAs per police manual, police are supposed to offer four things which are mandatory after making any arrest of a person, first it must inform the accused about the reason of arrest; second, it has to ask the accused to take legal help by calling their lawyer; third it will have to take medical examination and fourth, it should inform his/her kith and kin about his arrest and lastly, if he/she takes some medicine on routine basis then police are supposed to offer him/her the medicine.
However, Rajnish’s death in police custody has exposed police’s claim about observance of guidelines for action on suspects during investigation on registered cases in the police stations, opined critics.
The DIG said that police are working on various angles to solve this case. Haridwar CO Chandra Mohan Singh has been appointed investigating officer of this case. Acting on a complaint registered by the deceased’s brother Manjeet Singh, a case under Sections 302/364 of IPC and 3(2)(5) of the SC/ST Act against unidentified policemen has been registered in the Dalanwala police station. However, it was revealed that Rajnish was booked in the Dalanwala police station under Excise Act after being caught carrying 90 liquor pouches illegally two years ago.
Following his death in custody, Dalanwala Police station in-charge CS Bisht has been reverted to police line. Four police personnel including a sub-inspector who were on duty on Saturday night have been suspended.
The Dalanwala Circle Officer said that Rajnish’s accomplice Nikhil whose condition had also deteriorated on the same day is now out of danger. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered and additional district magistrate (finance) Pratap Singh Shah is investigating this case. “As of now, I am busy in completing election related works and I will start investigating this case after two days or more,” Shah said.
SSP Ajay Rautela said, “We shall wait for the inquiry report and further action would be taken on the basis of the magisterial inquiry.” The Dalanwala police had arrested suspected chain snatchers Nikhil and Rajneesh Singh, residents of Raipur on Saturday night.
According to police, both Nikhil and Rajnish were arrested on the basis of CCTV footages and during interrogation, they accepted that they had snatched two gold chains and had kept one of them for Rs 27,000. Police had also recovered the stolen gold chain from jewellery shop.
Though the police deny having beaten him in custody, Rajnish’s family members alleged that during interrogation, police had mercilessly beaten Rajnish so badly in the night that he fell ill on Sunday morning and was taken to Coronation Hospital for treatment where he was declared brought dead.