Mob attacks cops after teen dies in hospital

Mumbai, July 22 

A mob allegedly vandalised police vehicles, and attacked policemen and security personnel of a state-run agency following the death of a 17-year-old boy at the Sion Hospital here, a police official said on Sunday.

Two police constables and three personnel of the Maharashtra State Security Corporation (MSSC), including a woman, were injured in the incident, he said.

 Sachin Jaiswar, a resident of the Dharavi area here, died at the civic-run hospital located in central Mumbai, while undergoing treatment on Saturday, he said. Two days before being admitted to the hospital, he was questioned by the Dharavi police in connection with a criminal case and was later allowed to go, the official said.

While at home the boy fell sick and was admitted to the hospital where he died during treatment. Suspecting that his death was due to the alleged police torture in custody and negligence of doctors at the hospital, the mob of around 100 people gathered outside the hospital late on Saturday night and started pelting stones at the policemen, their vehicles and MSSC personnel, he said.

The protesters also tried to barge into the hospital but were stopped at its gate.

The mob then allegedly beat up the on-duty policemen and MSSC personnel (generally deployed at the state government offices and organisations), he said. At least two constables and three MSSC personnel, including a woman, were injured and four police vehicles damaged in the stone-pelting, the official said. — PTI