Five policemen were suspended after a 22-year-old suspect committed suicide inside a police station in Kasganj on Tuesday.
As per reports, Altaf of Nagla Sayyed Ahroli of Sadar Kotwali area was accused of eloping with a girl and was brought to the police station for questioning on Tuesday.
After a session of sustained interrogation, the accused asked to go to the toilet on the police station premises. When he did not return after a long time, the cops went inside the toilet only to find him dead. Altaf, who was sporting a black hoodie, took out the string of the jacket, tied it to a tap in the washroom and tried to strangle himself. Ironically, the noose hanging from the pipe was barely two feet off the floor. Later, the suspect was brought out of the washroom in an unconscious state and taken to a hospital where he died during treatment shortly therafter.
The deceased’s grieving father Chand Miyan said: "I handed over my son to the police on Monday evening. Barely 24 hours later, I was informed that he had hanged himself. I suspect that the police personnel were involved in the hanging. I demand that a case be registered against the guilty cops and stern legal action be taken against them.”
Some of Altaf’s kin also raised questions over the police theory that the youth hanged himself using the string of his hoodie citing that the pipe, from which, the police say, Altaf hanged himself, was merely two feet from the ground. The kin said that there was only one pipe (the water outlet) in the washroom and it was only two feet from the ground. They said there was no other pipe or latch in the washroom. Moreover, the CCTV camera footage from the police station has also not been put forth for investigation yet, they added.
Soon after the incident came to light, Superintendent of Police of Kasganj, Rohan Pramod Botre, suspended the inspector and four other police personnel. The top district police officer later said that the preliminary probe revealed negligence on part of the five police personnel, after which action was initiated against them.
Only last year, the Supreme Court had ordered that all police stations in the country and investigation agencies, including the CBI, National Investigation Agency and Enforcement Directorate, must install CCTV cameras with night vision and audio recording. The apex court had also said that security cameras should cover interrogation rooms, lock-ups, entries and exits.