In a major development, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pawan Deo, Bilaspur range ordered demotion of about a dozen policemen of Jaijaipur Police Station of Janjgir-Champa district for brutally assaulting two youths in the lock-up. The youths were detained suspecting their involvement in an alleged murder case. The demoted policemen include two inspectors, one Sub Inspector, one Assistant Sub Inspector and seven constables. After the assault, the suspects were admitted in a hospital in a critical condition.
According to sources, Pitambar Prasad Shukla resident of village Beladula under Jaijaipur Police Station in Janjgir-Champa district has registered a complaint with the Superintendent of Police that on August 18, 2012 his sons Purushottam Chandra and Vishweshwari Chandra were taken into custody by the police for investigation in a murder case. later, he said, in the night, inspectors Mangesh Deshpandey and Usha Sondhia, Sub Inspector JS Rajput, Assistant Sub Inspector DR Daharia and constables Jaikumar lahare, Virendra Singh Kanwar, Harprasad Manhar, Ashwini Sidar, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Raju Kashyap and Ghanshyam Markam brutally assaulted them in the lock-up.
Based on the complaint of Shukla, the SP formed a two-member team comprising Sub Divisional Officers of Police M lakra and Puja Agrawal to probe the case. In their report, the officers mentioned that Jaijaipur Police were investigating the case of a missing person, Shashi Bhushan Chandra, son of Shyamlal Chandra. Few days later, the police recovered the body of a person in the village and assumed it to be of Shashi Bhushan. The report stated that Jaijaipur police had assaulted the youths in lock-up during detention, which also created uproar in the village against the police.
Scared of the brutality of the cops, the youths confessed their crime. But after few days, on December 12, Shashi Bhushan returned home and informed that he had migrated to another State in search of job. Taking serious note of the wrong probe and brutal assault on the youths in lock-up during detention, IGP Pawan Deo ordered demotion of the personnel besides warning them not to repeat such an act in future.