Five Africans arrested after custody death protest, Congolese embassy meets commissioner of police Kamal Pant

Pramesh S Jain.Yogesh K Porwar

A day after members of the African community protested after the death of a Congolese man, the JC Nagar police registered two more FIRs and confirmed that one of the five arrested during the protest had tested positive for consumption of drugs

Followed by lathicharge in front of the JC nagar on Monday,police stepped up investigations to identify the people who instigated the attack .

We have taken two cases including the attack on PSI Latha and PSI Mallikarjuna during the protest and also a case about a minor boy injured when he was pushed by the accused while fleeing after the violence,a police officer said .

Based on the complaint by the boy’s parents the police have registered a case and are looking for the prime accused who led the violence group to attack the police.

The police have collected the CCTV and video footage to identify the accused.A special team has been formed to track down the accused who are on the run,the police added.

The police have arrested five persons so far in connection with the attack and their travel documents are being verified,Dharmedra Kumar Meena,said .

The accused have been subjected to medical examination since they are under the influence of alcohol.

The special team tracking down the accused also verifies the travel documents of african nationals during the search and take legal action whoever is found to be overstaying.

Mr.Meena said adding that the police have taken action against 154 persons in the north division who were caught staying without valid documents.

Meanwhile the post mortem of john died in police custody is being conducted at bowring hospital.

Meanwhile the CID officials visited the station and obtained the details of the deceased to initiate a probe.

Responding to the incident,Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the lathi-charge by the police was a response to the protestors turning violent.

He also added that For the last 2 years, we have been strictly monitoring drug issues.There are many African nationals in the State,some of them are staying even after visa expiry.

We are taking strict action in the matter and are arresting them under PIT NDPS Act”.

Alikali, vice-president,Congolese Community in Bengaluru, told reporters that,A student from our community was arrested around 1 am yesterday.

This morning we got the news of his sudden death.He was fully healthy.People protested because they think police brutality was meted out to him.

He added that though the JC Nagar police claimed they didn’t touch him and he died of a cardiac attack, many people including his girlfriend suspected police brutality.We want to
get a clear picture,he said.

Congolese embassy officials visit the Bangalore police commissioner’s office The two officers met Commissioner Kamal Pant.

North Division DCP Dharmendra Kumar Meena has issued a statement on the uproar of African nationals in front of the city. We have registered 2 cases of incident.

1 case has been filed on the complaint of PSI Lata. A young boy has been hurt by the uproar of African nationals.We are already investigating these 2 cases.”

There is a video of those involved in yesterday’s protest. The accused will be found.Case under NDPS and Foreigners Act.

A sample of five urine has already been collected.One’s Drugs Intake Report has been positive.154 people have been found in the Northern Division for a year.Dharmendra Kumar Meena,DCP, North Division said,

Additional police force has been deployed at JC Nagar as a precautionary measure .