Angry residents staged a protest and blocked a road in Firozabad on Sunday night demanding Rs 10 lakh compensation for Kushwaha’s family and action against the policemen allegedly responsible for his death.
Authorities on Monday ordered an inquiry into a 28-year-old Firozabad man’s death after his family blamed alleged torture in police custody for it.
Sunil Kushwaha died on Sunday as he was discharged from an Agra hospital, where he had been admitted after his questioning in a motorcycle theft case at Firozabad’s Uttari police station. The 28-year-old father of three was a scrap dealer.
Angry residents staged a protest and blocked a road in Firozabad on Sunday night demanding Rs 10 lakh compensation for Kushwaha’s family and action against the policemen allegedly responsible for his death.
The protest was called after Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar Singh met the protesters and assured them of an inquiry.
“Firozabad SSP has handed over the inquiry to Circle Officer Arun Kumar,” said Singh. “The family initially refused to hand over the body for autopsy, but they were pacified later on the assurance of action against the culprits and the body was sent for a postmortem.”
He said no internal or external injury was found on the body and the autopsy report cited “shock and internal haemorrhage in the stomach due to liver cirrhosis and septicemia” as the causes of the death.
Singh claimed Khushwaha’s family has admitted he had been unwell for a long time.
Uttari Station House Officer Pravesh Kumar said two people held with a stolen motorcycle on May 3 had told their interrogators that they had purchased the two-wheeler from Kushwaha.
The police said Khushwaha admitted to having purchased the vehicle from a local resident. “After Sunil informed us he had tuberculosis, we called his family and sent him to the district hospital for treatment,” said Singh. He added Khushwaha’s family got him discharged the next day and took him home.
“On May 5, the family took him to a private hospital in Agra where he was admitted. Doctors asked Sunil’s family to arrange money for an operation. The family got him discharged and were bringing him home when he died on the way,” said Singh.