Lucknow: The police on Sunday lodged an FIR against an inspector and others, a day after a 30-year-old man died while in custody of the Chinhat police station in Lucknow, officials said. A resident of Jainabad in the Chinhat area, Mohit Kumar (30) was arrested in connection with a case on Saturday. He died at a hospital while in custody following which his family members alleged police brutality as the cause of his death, police said.
Taking note of the complaint lodged by the victim's mother, an FIR has been registered against Ashwani Chaturvedi, an inspector at the Chinhat police station, and others including some unidentified persons, and a detailed probe is on into the matter, Additional Commissioner of Police Vibhuti Khand Radha Ram Singh told reporters on Sunday.
The exact cause of death will be ascertained after the post-mortem which will be videographed, the officer added. A purported CCTV clip went viral on social media showing the victim lying in the lockup. The deceased's family members have accused the police of 'deliberately' leaking only a small portion of the footage to save their back, claiming that Kumar was beaten to death by the cops.
According to the police, Kumar was rushed to a community health centre after he became unwell at the police station. From there he was referred to a bigger facility where he died, they said.
However, Shobharam, the victim's brother who claimed he was also taken into custody before being released later, alleged that the police mercilessly thrashed Kumar in front of him and sent him to the hospital only after he died.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday slammed the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the incident, saying the term 'police custody' should be changed to 'torture house'.
"This is the second news of death (read 'murder') in police custody in the last 16 days in the Uttar Pradesh capital. The government, which is expert in changing names, should now change the name of 'police custody' to 'torture house'. Every demand of the victim's family must be met. We are with them," Yadav said in a post on X.
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