It was not a routine day for as many as 100 cops of Sardarnagar police station, when the police had to face the wrath of two bereaved widows and other family members of a man who died in police custody. Investigation into the death was handed over to DCB DySP MA Chavda.
Meanwhile, family members of the victim who had gathered outside Sardarnagar police station on Friday had to face lathi charge. Some women constables even assaulted the victim’s protesting wives. Nine police personnel have been booked in connection with the custodial death of Kubernagar resident Raju Thakkar, an imitation jeweller.
He was picked up on Wednesday night from a gambling den in Sarangpur by the detection staff of Sardarnagar police. The next morning, his body was found at the Sabarmati riverbed.
“We have registered a criminal case against the nine police personnel, including a police sub-inspector, in the suspicious death of Raju alias Kanti Thakkar,” Sardarnagar PI, Vanraj Sarvaiyya told dna. The accused have been booked for wrongful confinement, causing disappearance of evidence and as abettor present when offence committed.
After being picked up from Sarangpur, he was handed over to the sector-2 surveillance squad, police sources said. “He was kept in custody at Ajit Mills police chowky in Rakhial police jurisdiction for a day,” they added. His wife Asha rushed to Sardarnagar police station with her advocate and relatives and alleged that her husband had been killed in police custody.
“He used to make a living selling imitation jewelry and there was no case of theft registered against him. The police illegally detained him as well as killed him,” Asha cried out.
“We want the police to include the sections of murder in the FIR, as there is no doubt that he was killed by these cops,” the mourning widow alleged. Thakkar’s body was sent to Ahmedabad Civil Hospital for post-mortem investigation and later handed over to Asha in the evening. No arrests have been made in the case yet.
The case came to light when, on Thursday morning, the city police control room received a phone call from a man, identifying himself as Vithhal Pattani, who informed them about a body lying at the Sabarmati riverbed near Hansol. Sardarnagar police had later identified the deceased as Raju Thakkar.
Ruckus at police station
Since 10 am on Friday, Thakkar’s relatives had started gathering outside Sardarnagar police station. The angry family members even ransacked the office of the police inspector. An angry exchange of expletives between the police and relatives continued throughout the day, following which cops lathi-charged the crowd and Thakkar’s two wives were even assaulted by women constables.
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