There has been a political upheaval after the death of a person in custody in Chhattisgarh. Congress has demanded the resignation of the state Home Minister. The Additional Superintendent of Police has been suspended in this case.
There has been a political upheaval after the death of a person in custody in Chhattisgarh. Congress has demanded the resignation of the state Home Minister. The Additional Superintendent of Police has been suspended in this case. Meanwhile, the family of the deceased has accused the police of atrocities.
A judicial inquiry was ordered after a man sent to judicial custody in a murder case died in jail in Chhattisgarh’s Kabirdham district. An IPS officer has been suspended in the case. The deceased’s family alleged that the man died due to police beating. The incident has caused a political upheaval in the state. The Congress called for a bandh in the district on Thursday and demanded the resignation of the state Home Minister.
Actually, the mob had set fire to the house of Raghunath Sahu, the deputy sarpanch of Loharidih village, in which he died. The police had arrested 69 people in this case. One of them was Prashant Sahu. On Wednesday, he was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, where he was declared dead.
State Home Minister Vijay Sharma said that a judicial inquiry has been ordered into his death in jail. He was examined a day before as he had suffered an injury in his hand. His X-ray was normal. Postmortem has been done and the viscera has been sent for forensic examination. The report is awaited.
He said Additional SP Vikas Kumar, a 2020 batch IPS officer, has been suspended in connection with the incident. Kumar had led the team that arrested Prashant, officials said. The government has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for Prashant’s family.
Congress leader and former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel met the family during Prashant’s funeral on Thursday. In the presence of reporters, Prashant’s mother told Baghel, “The police brutally beat us in the police station. They hit me on my head, legs and back. Both the policemen and the woman policeman beat us. We were asking for water, but they did not give us water. Action should be taken against them.” Baghel then uploaded a video on social media, showing injury marks on Prashant’s body.
According to officials, the issue of arrest of Prashant and others started after Kachru Sahu was found hanging in Bijatola village of Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. A senior police officer said that Kachru was in debt. Meanwhile, rumours spread that Raghunath Sahu, deputy sarpanch of Loharidih village, had killed Kachru and hanged him. Following this, a mob was mobilised, which set Raghunath’s house on fire on Sunday.
Police said a police team led by Kabirdham SP Abhishek Pallav reached the spot and rescued four members of his family. Raghunath hid on the upper floor of the house and died in the fire. After Raghunath’s death, police registered a case against more than 150 people and arrested 69 of them, including Prashant Sahu.
After meeting Prashant’s family on Thursday, former CM Baghel said that the Chief Minister should immediately sack the Home Minister. He demanded that a team of doctors be constituted to conduct a second post-mortem of Kachru Sahu. He also demanded that the incident be investigated by a sitting judge of the High Court and that the State Women’s Commission be asked to investigate the atrocities on women.
