The Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the state government to name a senior Indian Police Services (IPS) officer — not below the rank of deputy director general of police — to supervise an inquiry into missing witnesses in a case involving a youth’s custodial death in a Thane jail.
A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and Amjad Sayed asked the state to provide the name of the officer concerned by Thursday afternoon.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by social worker N.R. Soni. Mr Soni had written to the high court about the case involving Robert Inold Almeda’s custodial death in 1996.
Mr Soni’s PIL said Almeda was arrested on August 28, 1996 for allegedly assaulting his father. He was granted bail by a local court, but he could not avail the same and was ultimately remanded to judicial custody. On September 1, 1996, Almeda was found dead in his cell with several assault marks on his body. Some inmates of nearby cells had purportedly seen certain staffers brutally beating up the accused the previous night.
