62-year-old dies in Bihar’s Muzaffapur after ‘drunk policemen beat him up’
india Updated: Oct 16, 2017 15:04 IST
Hindustan Times, Muzaffarpur
A police team, which went to the village to take possession of Mahto’s body and send it to a government hospital for an autopsy, was attacked by an angry mob on Sunday evening.(Representative image)
A 62-year-old man died after being “beaten up brutally” by policemen in north Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district for trying to save his newly-wedded son from being arrested, his family alleged on Monday.
The family members of Kant Lal Mahto, a resident of Bhorha village in Katra police station area around 70km north of state capital Patna, said he succumbed to his injuries on Sunday morning.
They said Mahto’s son Guddu married a girl from the same village against the wishes of her parents two days ago. Her parents lodged a case of kidnapping against Guddu and the police came to the village to inquire into the matter, they added.
“All the policemen were in an inebriated condition when they reached our house. They took my son and his newly married wife out of the house. When my husband objected to it, they beat him up mercilessly. He received head injuries and died on the spot,” Mahto’s wife Sharda Devi said in her complaint to the police.
Devi named Katra station house officer (SHO) Ratna Kumar, sub-inspector Nand Kumar Paswan and other policemen in her complaint to the police.
Muzaffarpur’s senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vivek Kumar said a police team had gone to Bhorha to arrest Mahto’s son Guddu.
“The police team has recovered the girl and her alleged abductor,” Kumar said.
A police team, which went to the village to take possession of Mahto’s body and send it to a government hospital for an autopsy, was attacked by an angry mob on Sunday evening. The mob chased away the team and also blocked the National Highway 57 for many hours in protest.
Though the blockade was lifted at 11pm, the mob allowed the police to take Mahto’s body early on Monday.
SSP Kumar also said he has set up a committee to inquire into the incident.
“The committee will submit its reports within a fortnight. We are waiting for the autopsy report. If it is ascertained in the report that the cause of the death was beating, appropriate action will be taken against the guilty,” said Kumar.
