Mumbai, October 16: Additional commissioner of police (ACP) Prakash Wani filed a reply in the Bombay high court on Thursday, claiming that the cops, who lifted an “intoxicated” Altaf Sheikh, 22, in their arms, and carried him to the police station, had simply made a “humane gesture”.
Sheikh’s mother, Mehrunisa, has moved the high court, alleging a custodial killing by the
Ghatkopar police. She has demanded a probe into the case and a compensation of Rs 25 lakh.
The police reply stated that Sheikh had consumed six intoxicating tablets, and “could barely stand”. “It is the drug overdose that killed him.”
However, Mehrunisa’s advocate, Yug Chaudhry, said that the post mortem report indicated that there were contusions on Sheikh’s head and torso, but did not say anything about drug overdose. “This is cold-blooded murder,” justice Bilal Nazki said, and sought the names of the police officers involved.
The officers involved in Sheikh’s alleged custodial killing on September 9 are sub-inspector Sanjay Khedekar, head constable Raghunath Kolekar and police naik Sayaji Thombre.
Public prosecutor PA Pol told the court that an ACP was conducting an inquiry into the matter. Also, the final post mortem report pin-pointing the cause of Sheikh’s death was pending. He urged the court to wait till the ACP files his report.
Irked at the reply, justice Nazki reminded Pol that he was a public prosecutor and not a police employee. He said that public prosecutors were getting into the habit of being “persecutors” protecting the police. “We do not expect this attitude. When you tell a lie, you have to discover another lie, and this leads to a cycle,” justice Nazki said.
The court has asked five doctors of the JJ hospital — ME Bansude, AH Meshram, CS Chavan, BG Chikalkar and AP Raymane — to come before the court on Friday. “People’s lives cannot be taken away like this. There was no allegation against this poor boy. Life has become cheap,” justice Nazki said. “If the government has some sense of responsibility, it will take some action on its part.”
–Agencies–