2 cops suspended for custodial death

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, December 4

Superintendent of Police Pankaj Nain on Tuesday placed a constable and a munshi under suspension after they were found guilty of dereliction of duty in a preliminary inquiry in the case of suicide by a youth belonging to the Schedule Castes (SC) in police custody.

Sources said the SP also ordered a departmental inquiry against the policemen, besides handing over the case to the state crime bureau for investigation. Constable Sandeep Kumar and munshi Dinesh Kumar were posted at the city police post.

The action comes eight days after Rajesh, a resident of Radha Swami Colony, reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan in the police post here on November 27. Rajesh (22), an auto-rickshaw driver, was the sole breadwinner of his family.

The suspension of the two cops is believed to be an outcome of pressure mounted by political parties, which raised the issue. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited the bereaved family in Jhajjar on Monday to express condolences. He criticised the police for the suicide and demanded a CBI probe into the incident.

Later, Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda and Jhajjar MLA Geeta Bhukkal also visited the family and questioned the police functioning.

“Both policemen have been found guilty of acts of omission. They were supposed to have taken care of the youth at the police post instead of leaving him alone in the room. The constable went out of the police post on getting information about a road blockade in the city,” said ASP Shashank Sawan, who conducted the preliminary investigation into the case.

Sawan said that a boy, who went missing on November 14, had been recovered. Rajesh was brought to the police post by the missing boy’s grandfather, Vishnu, in connection with the case, he added.