23-year-old man dies in police custody, CID to probe

BENGALURU: A 23-year-old man died in police custody in the city in the wee hours of Thursday. The deceased is R Vinod, a resident of Jolly Mohalla in Cottonpet. Vinod was facing a Non Bailable Warrant (NBW) in a crime case registered in 2017. He was brought to the Cottonpet police station on Wednesday and had to be produced before a court on Thursday. The accused had jumped bail and not appeared before the court for the last two years. 

“Vinod was sleeping inside the cell. Around 3.45 am on Thursday, when the station house officer (SHO) checked on him, he was found to be unconscious and was taken to Victoria Hospital where he was declared dead. We are treating it as a custodial death case. All the procedures as per the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will be followed and the case will be handed over to Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Karnataka state police,” Laxman Nimbargi, DCP (West) said.

The Cottonpet police had registered a case against Vinod on April 21, 2017 for attempt to commit dacoity. He, along with four others, were reportedly arrested when they were planning to rob passersby near the Veterinary Hospital compound on Mysuru Road. The police were on the lookout for Vinod after a court issued three NBWs against him.

“Vinod was under the influence of alcohol when he was brought to the station. He was put in the cell around 7 pm. As per the procedure, the SHO has to check on the accused in the cells every two hours. He is a painter and a native of Tamil Nadu. The postmortem will be conducted at the Victoria Hospital mortuary in the presence of a magistrate,” said an officer. A case of custodial death has been registered by the police. Further investigations are on.