Prame
sh S Jain
The 51st additional district and session court on Monday convicted a Head Constable and three Constables in a custodial death case and sentenced them seven years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 30,000.
The incident pertaining to a house theft case reported by a businessman in JB Nagar in 2016.
The convicted identified as head constable,Ajaz Khan, and constables,Keshav Murthy,Mohan Ram,and Siddappa.
The said convicted had detained 42-year-old Mahendra Singh Rathod,a domestic worker and assaulted him in the custody during an interrogation following which he succumbed .
The victim,Mahendra,originally from Odisha,had been working as a domestic help for a businessman in HAL 2nd Stage for over 12 years accused of stealing Rs.3.5 lakh from his employer.
CCTV footage at the station revealed Mahendra walked into the station but by evening,he collapsed and was declared dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.
Even though the police personnel claimed that Mahendra had a history of illness but the post-mortem report and CID investigation revealed that assault was the cause of death .
The custodial death had led to the suspension of six policemen,including the then police inspector and Sub Inspector for dereliction of duty .
Initially the case was registered as un natural death and after CID took over and following the investigation it Culpable homicide not amounting to murder was pressed against the trio .
After a charge-sheet was filed the court charged the accused under Section 304 Part II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and Section 330 (voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), read with Section 34 (common intention).
