Mumbai: An accused arrested by the Andheri police in a cheating case allegedly committed suicide in the toilet of the police station on Thursday afternoon. The Mumbai Police Crime Branch has initiated an inquiry.
The incident occurred between 11:45 a.m. and 12 p.m.. The police said the accused, identified as Vijay Salvi (20), was arrested along with three others on Tuesday and was remanded in police custody.
“While Salvi and the other three were being interrogated in the detection room on Thursday, Salvi said he wanted to use the toilet. He was taken to the toilet next to the detection room, while a constable stood guard outside. When he did not come out for a long time, the constable entered and saw that Salvi had hanged himself from a beam in the ceiling using his vest,” said an officer with the Andheri police.
Salvi was taken to Criticare Hospital where he was declared dead before admission. Senior police officers were informed and the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone X) and the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Andheri division) visited the police station to conduct inquiries.
As per procedure in cases of custodial death, an independent agency is supposed to probe for a free and fair investigation. The matter was handed over to the Unit X of the Mumbai Police Crime Branch. The Crime Branch will be recording statements of Salvi’s co-accused and the investigating officers who were interrogating him.
The police said Salvi was accused of stealing money in a bank by approaching a customer and offering to help count his money on Monday. Salvi allegedly replaced some of the currency notes with counterfeit ones, while the other three diverted the customer’s attention. They were identified on the basis of CCTV footage and then picked up with the help of local informants.
Custodial deaths have been a cause for concern for the Maharashtra police, with data from the National Crime Records Bureau showing that the State ranked the highest with 354 custodial deaths between 1999 and 2014.
In 2016, then Director General of Police Praveen Dixit had issued instructions to prevent custodial deaths, while stating that most deaths occur not because of torture by policemen but due to total negligence in following the procedures by staff at the police station.