Alleged excesses of Khakhi remained unabated with one more person arrested in connection with a loot case in Kaushambi district was found hanging with the lock-up in the wee hours of Friday.
Interestingly, as usual, senior officers tried to dump the matter claiming it to be case of suicide, however, after agitation of the local public, they finally get a case registered against the cops and also place half a dozen cops including incharge of the local police station under suspension. In just last fortnight, custody killings were reported from Barabanki, Sitapur etc.
Reports said that one Gulam Ahmad (28), hailing from Sundhaila hamlet of Maharajpurin Kanpur City, was arrested by a team of Kokhraj police station in Kaushambi, led by sub-inspector Nagesh Kumar Singh, on Thursday night. He was alleged to be involved in a loot of truck, registered with the police station on August 26 last. Gulam was lodged in the lock-up. local police claimed that in the wee hours of Friday the guard on lock-up duty noticed body of Gulam hanging with the ceiling so he immediately took him out and later with the help of other cops, rushed him to near-by hospital but the doctors pronounced the victim dead upon arrival.
local officers claimed that Gulam had committed suicide. However, the family members and local residents who thronged outside police station, alleged that the cops brutally assaulted Gulam and hanged him up-side down to confess the crime in which the victim died. They claimed that later the cops hanged the victim in the lock-up to make it a case of suicide. They blocked the road and demanded action against the cops. The family also cited Gulam as innocent claiming that he had no criminal record and the cops were trying to make him a criminal.
Reports said that senior police officers tried to convince the agitated public to call off their protest but when they turned violent, the cops finally get a case registered against unknown cops and had also suspended that station officer of Kokhraj police station, Pradeep Yadav, head constable Sitaram Yadav, constables Saurabh Chandra Singh, Ghanshyam Yadav, and Anuj Kumar Sirohi. Further investigations are on in the matter and officers were also waiting for autopsy report to confirm whether it was case of suicide or killing following torture.