A couple, Gaffar Alam and Puja Kumari, committed suicide by ingesting poison in the lock-up of Argora police station on Monday night. The deceased pair, hailing from Mahagama in Godda, was on the run for the past one month and was apprehended by Godda police the night they took their own life.
Belonging to different religious communities, the girl, a minor, Gaffar and Puja fled their homes in January. A First Information Report dated January 17, 2016 was filed against the boy in Godda accusing him of abducting the girl.
“A police team from Godda had arrived in Ranchi to arrest Gaffar, based on the charges filed against him, and recover Puja,” said Assistant Superintendent of Police (Hatia) Prashant Anand.
Found by the team in Harmu, they were brought to Argora police station and were to be taken back to Godda on Tuesday. They were kept in adjacent lock-ups for male and female detainees, which are continuously watched by close circuit television cameras.
later in the night, Puja was taken to the washroom by the female Assistant Sub-Inspector on duty. On her way back to the lock-up, she passed a packet of poison she had on her person to Gaffar and kept one for her, police sources said.
Police personnel manning the police station took notice of the couples as the poison took effect. They were rushed to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences where they breathed their last. “After Puja’s family members filed a kidnapping case against Gaffar, the issue was taken up prominently in Jan Samwad, where police were instructed to arrest the boy and recover the girl without further delay. We had thoroughly searched both when we found them after month-long search operations and found nothing of consequence. We were relieved to finally take the girl home safely,” said Godda DSP Raja Mitra who was leading the police search team.
The CCTV footage of the lock-ups is being observed by senior police officials to establish the facts in the matter. The bodies of the deceased were sent for post-mortem and the procedure was recorded, as per guidelines from National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
“We will follow the regulations pertaining to custodial death laid down by NHRC,” Mitra stated, concurring to the plan of action of Ranchi police.
Meanwhile, three police officials were suspended on orders from Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Dwivedi on grounds of negligence that allowed two detainees to commit suicide in police lock-up.
The suspended officials include ASIs Kanak Kumari and Sushil Kumar Singh and Constable Indu Bhushan Mishra on Monday night.