Chhattisgarh cop suspended for custody death

A police station chief in Chhattisgarh was suspended Wednesday, a day after an initial post-mortem report backed a poor man’s allegations that his son was mercilessly beaten up in police custody.Victim Santosh Daharia, 25, was arrested Feb 14 by policemen of Raipur district’s Kharora police station, some 30 km from here, on charges of kidnapping a girl and died in custody Feb 19.

The opposition Congress and the victim’s father have sought a judicial probe into the killing in Raipur district.

The post-mortem here mentioned “recent internal injuries as the prime reasons for death of Santosh Daharia”.

“In-incharge of Kharora police station, P.K. Pathak, has been suspended,” Dipanshu Kabra, senior superintendent of police (Raipur), told reporters.

Kabra said he had recommended a departmental inquiry into the matter.

Raipur District Collector Rohit Yadav also ordered a magisterial inquiry into the police torture allegations of the family of the deceased.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate S.K. Agrawal has been asked to conduct the probe and submit his report within a month.

The Congress Wednesday issued a statement expressing serious concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state and sought a judicial probe into the man’s custodial killing.

“The police administration is trying to hush up Santosh Daharia’s custodial killing, the Congress strongly condemns the incident and demands a judicial probe. We also want cases be registered the policemen who tortured the youth during custody,” state party chief Nandkumar Patel said in the statement.