Assam man held for mobile theft dies in police custody; family allege torture
Police said Arsabh Ali, who was among a group of suspects detained in a mobile theft case, suddenly fell ill late on Wednesday evening and died
SILCHAR: A 42-year-old man detained by the police in north Assam’s Lakimpur district in connection with a stolen mobile phone died on Wednesday evening in the police outpost where he was being held, triggering protests against the Assam Police to demand action against the police personnel.
Assam Police said the police officer in charge of the Khelmati outpost and the outpost’s sentry at the time of the death have been suspended.
Lakhimpur additional superintendent of police (Headquarters) LK Deka said the accused, who was sitting on a bench inside the police station, suddenly fell down and was immediately rushed to the civil hospital where he was declared “brought dead” by doctors.
Ali’s family insists that he was innocent and he was tortured to force him to confess to a crime he hadn’t committed when he died, a relative said.
On Thursday morning, angry relatives of the victim turned up at the police outpost at about 8am to protest the death. Some of them also threw stones at the outpost, leading the police to fire three shots in the air to disperse the crowd.
Deka said a magisterial inquest will be ordered into the incident and a panel of doctors will conduct the post-mortem, which will be videographed, to ascertain the exact cause of the death.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Assam director general of Police Gyanendra Pratap Singh’s office announced the suspension of two police personnel including the outpost in charge. “Independent Enquiry has been ordered by Additional SP Biswanath. All the mandatory provisions of law & directions of NHRC/AHRC are being followed. DIG NR (Northern Range) has been directed to proceed to Khelmati immediately.”
A police officer said two persons have been detained in connection with the attack on the outpost on Thursday morning.
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