Bengaluru: The officials of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have launched a probe into the custodial death of a 42-year-old man, who was picked up the Jeevan Bhima Nagar police in connection with a theft case. Six policemen, have been suspended in this connection.
Soon after Mahendar, a resident of K.R. Puram, died in police custody on Saturday night, DG & IGP Om Prakash transferred the investigation of the case to the CID, as all custodial deaths have to investigated by them, as per norms.
The team, led by DIG Sonia Narang, launched the probe on Saturday itself and collected several details related to the case. Narang said that the cause of death will be known only after post-mortem. “Mahendar’s family are yet to arrive from Odisha. Once they arrive, a post-mortem will be conducted. Based on its report, we could ascertain the reason for the death. The policemen attached to J B Nagar will also be questioned.”
It is expected that the post mortem will be conducted at the Bowring Hospital on Monday. Suspensions for a fair probe Soon after he received information about the death of an accused in police custody, Police Commissioner N.S. Megharikh rushed to take stock of the situation on Saturday night. A meeting of senior officers was convened on Sunday morning, after which Mr Megharikh ordered for the suspension of the six policemen.
Police Inspector Hithendra, Sub Inspector Rajashekhar, Head Constable Ajaz Ahmed, Constables Siddapppa, Mohan Ram and Keshava have been suspended. “The Head Constable and three constables were suspended as they were interrogating the accused, while the inspector and SI were suspended as they are the supervising officers,” a senior police official said.
However, the official added that they were confident that all the six policemen suspended in the case will come clean.
