Gujarat: Kin demand probe in judicial custody death of a bootlegger

PALANPUR: Relatives of a bootlegger who allegedly died in judicial custody in Mehsana have accused the cops of brutality, which led to his death.
However, the police have refuted all allegations of torture.
Accused Rakesh Thakor, 27, had apparently failed to appear in all the summons that the court had sent him. A police team then went to his house with a summon on August 12. He was produced in the court, which sent him to judicial custody from August 12 to 15.
“All we (police) did on August 12 was to inform Thakor that he was not presenting himself in the court despite the summons and brought him to the police station. It was for just 10 minutes before we proceeded to present him in the court,” Mehsana SP Parthrajsinh Gohil told TOI on Wednesday.
“When he was in sub-jail under judicial custody of the court, how can the police have taken the law into their hands and killed him?” Gohil asked.
Wife of the deceased, Jassiben, alleged, “Only after custodial torture, did the police take my husband to civil hospital for treatment on Sunday, when it was already too late.”
The woman added that she had also submitted a memorandum to district collector Udit Agarwal on Wednesday demanding strict action against the guilty policemen.
In the memorandum, father of the deceased, Samtaji Thakor too has threatened to take out a protest rally to Gandhinagar if the authorities failed to take action on their plea. Besides relatives, the memorandum was also signed by some leading members of the Thakor Samaj.