Kamru’s father Mohammad Shaheed said that on April 23, SHO Singh and S-I Zaid came to their house and enquired about his sons — Kamru and Ziaul Hussain. (Representational Image)
Two police officers were on Friday booked for murder following the death of a 22-year-old man on Thursday evening, five days after he was “set free” following questioning in connection with a case.
Station House Officer (SHO) Bhanu Pratap Singh and sub-inspector (S-I) Syed Abutalib Zaid of Aashiana police station have been accused of assaulting Ziaul Kamar Qureshi alias Kamru during his questioning over the murder case of his neighbour, a transgender named Chanchal.
SHO Singh has denied the allegations. Police said Chanchal was shot dead by unidentified assailants in an auto-rickshaw on April 22 in Aashiana area.
Kamru’s father Mohammad Shaheed said that on April 23, SHO Singh and S-I Zaid came to their house and enquired about his sons — Kamru and Ziaul Hussain. “They told me that they wanted to question them in connection with Chanchal’s murder case. Since both my sons were not present at home at that time, the cops asked me to bring them to the police station the next day for questioning,” he told The Indian Express.
“I took both my sons to the police station next morning. Policemen there asked me to go home and said my sons will be sent after questioning. However, they did not return home for the next one week while I kept visiting the police station, requesting (the police officers) to release them. The cops even threatened to frame me in a false case and kill my sons if I kept asking for their release,” Shaheed alleged.
The father said that he stopped visiting the police station “fearing I would be implicated and lose my children.”
“I also did not talk to anyone about the matter. On April 28 night, policemen let my both sons go home,” he said. Shaheed further alleged, “On returning home, my sons told me that policemen thrashed them for four days during questioning. Kamru had suffered serious internal injuries and used to complain about pain in his stomach. He was undergoing treatment at a nearby clinic. On Thursday evening, Kamru’s condition deteriorated and we rushed him to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital. He died on the way.”
Circle Officer (CO), Cantonment area, Tanu Upadhyay, however, said, “Postmortem report (of Kamru) stated no injury was found on the body. It further stated that the cause of death could not be ascertained.” The viscera has been sent for further lab test. The autopsy was conducted on Friday by a panel of doctors, the CO added. Upadhyay also claimed that Kamru had been jailed in 2015 in a rape case lodged at PGI police station.
Kamru belonged to PGI area. He was working at a meat shop while his father is a labourer, police said. SHO of PGI police station Ravinder Nath Rai said Kamru was not undergoing treatment anywhere.
SHO Singh denied the allegation and said, “During investigation in the murder case of Chanchal, we had been questioning people connected to the victim to collect information. We had come to know that Chanchal used to visit Kamru’s house and both the brothers knew the victim well. To collect more information, I called Kamru and Ziaul Hussain to the police station for questioning on April 27. After collecting details, we let them go home. Both stayed at the police station for around two hours. The allegation of thrashing and keeping them in the custody illegally for four days is false.”