The mysterious death of a youth, allegedly in police custody, led to tension in Barabanki with hundreds of local residents and relatives of the deceased blocking the Lucknow-Sultanpur highway in front of Haidergarh Kotwali and staging a demonstration, demanding registration of a case against the police officials and legal proceedings against them.
Senior police officers, however, claimed that the youth fled from police custody and later his body was found hanging from a tree. They claimed that the victim might have ended his life fearing police action. They tried to pacify the protesters by assuring them a probe and action on the basis of the outcome of the post-mortem report.
Reports said that Rajendra Kumar (24) of Majhgawan village in Haidergarh Kotwali area was caught and brought to Kotwali police station by the Haidergarh police along with three-four others, including Umesh, Tribhuvan and Ram Baksh, in connection with a clash between two groups on Saturday evening.
The police went to nab them after a local villager, Chandrika, dialed 112 and informed the police of the clash. After getting information about this, the villagers reached Kotwali police station in the night but Rajendra was not found there. When they started the demonstration, the cops claimed that Rajendra managed to flee and was ‘missing’. The police also claimed that Rajendra fled when they took him to the community health centre for medical examination.
The villagers claimed that Rajendra was in custody of Haidergarh police and the cops deployed at Dial-112 Police Response Vehicle (PRV). The cops and the villagers along with the family members searched for Rajendra the whole night.
The situation took an ugly turn when the villagers found the body of Rajendra hanging from a small tree near Kaudiya village in Haidergarh area on Sunday morning. The news of recovery of the body spread like a wildfire and within no time, hundreds and villagers and relatives of the deceased gathered in front of Haidergarh Kotwali and started protesting on Lucknow-Sultanpur highway. They blocked the traffic movement and demanded registration of a murder case against the cops as they alleged that the victim died due to the third degree used on him during police custody. As the body was recovered a few metres away from the Kotwali, the protesters said that after the youth died, the cops hanged his body to make it look like a case of suicide. The relatives also alleged that the police kept the father of deceased Rajendra sitting in the police station and were not releasing him.
Barabanki’s Additional Superintendent of Police Dr Akhilesh Narayan Singh, who reached the spot, claimed that the body of the youth was found hanging from the tree on Sunday morning. He said the police took him to the community health centre for medical examination, from where he disappeared. He said the police were investigating the entire matter and stern action would be taken against whoever was found guilty in this incident.