Fatehpur custodial death: SHO, SI, four other policemen booked

PRAYAGRAJ: Six policemen, including a station house officer (SHO) and a sub-inspector (SI), of the Radhanagar police station, have been booked under sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 384 (extortion) and 302 (murder) of IPC and Section 3 (2) (V) of SC\ST Act by the Kotwali police in connection with the custodial death of a 28-year-old medical representative (MR) at Radhanagar police station of Fatehpur district.
Taking a serious note of the incident, superintendent of police (Fatehpur) Rajesh Kumar Singh has also suspended three policemen, including SHO of Radhanagar police station Sunil Kumar Singh along with SI Vikas Singh and constable Devendra Yadav on the charges of dereliction of duties. The body of the deceased has been sent for the postmortem examination.
Mother of the deceased Ram Dulari, who had lodged an FIR with the Kotwali police station of Fatehpur against the policemen, said that her son Satyendra Kumar alias Gajendra Kumar (28), who worked as MR, was staying in a rented accommodation at Jairam Nagar. On October 6, six policemen, including the SHO and the SI of Radhanagar police station, had forcibly taken his younger son (Satyendra Kumar) without any reason to the police station and tortured him for four days, she said, adding that the staff of the police station had also asked her elder son Arvind Kumar to arrange Rs 3 lakh or else her son would be booked for a serious offence and stringent IPC sections would be slapped on him.
The deceased’s mother also claimed that Arvind had met Satyendra at the police station and he was hale and hearty. On Sunday, the family members received news from other sources about the death of Satyendra at the Radhanagar police station. The woman further accused the Radhanagar police for not informing them about the death of Satyendra.
On being contacted, the SP (Fatehpur) said “The police had brought the victim to the police station in connection with an ATM theft case. An FIR was also pending against Satyendra with the Kotwali police station in this connection.” He, however, added that there were no injury marks on the deceased’s body. However, the postmortem examination report would reveal the exact cause of death, he said and added that a medical panel was asked to conduct videography of the autopsy.
Meanwhile, additional SP of Fatehpur has been assigned to probe the case, he said, adding that a magisterial probe would also be conducted.