Hyderabad: In two separate incidents of police custodial death in Telangana, cops reportedly thrashed two men, a 50-year-old from Kamareddy district and another tribal community member from Atmakur in Suryapet district. Families of both men said that they were picked up on false grounds and beaten.
In the incident at Suryapet district, Sakshi.com reported that the tribal youngster had been taken under custody on November 12 and was allegedly subjected to torture that included merciless beatings. He was also reportedly forced to drink urine. Due to such severe treatment, the young tribal farmer from Ramoji Thanda lost consciousness, added the report. He has been identified as G. Veerashekhar.
Suryapet district superintendent of police S. Rajendra Prasad told Siasat.com that an enquiry has been ordered. “An enquiry has been set in place to investigate the whole situation and action will be taken based on its conclusions,” he said. Veerashekhar was taken into custody after another person named Banothu Naveen was identified and taken into custody with regard to a theft case.
Upon investigation, Naveen named a few more including Veerashekar, who was then also picked up by the cops around 11 in the morning. He was sent back around midnight, after which he was reportedly in pain and then succumbed to his injuries. The police has denied any mishandling and claimed that the youngster just turned sick in custody, according to the Sakshi report.
Protesters also reportedly turned up at the police station on tractors and demanded justice for what happened with the tribal farmer. The Suryapet SP also called the Sakshi report an “exaggeration”.
In the Kamareddy incident, the deceased was identified as Odanti Bhimaboya who later died at Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad. Bhimaboya, a resident of Bichkund village in Kamareddy District, was reportedly watching a few villagers playing cards, after which the police trashed him. Soon after the incident, his family took him to a private hospital. Despite spending 1.5 lakh, Bhimaboya’s health did not improve.
His wife has also alleged that after Bhimaboya’s death, the police was asking her to sign a statement that the man died due to natural causes. She not only refused to sign the statement but also claimed that earlier doctors informed her that the cause of death is blood clots that occurred due to the police thrashing. She is now demanding justice. The cops have however denied these claims and said that they did not even touch him.
Both the cases come to light in the series of many such incidents of custodial deaths and beatings of people from marginalized castes and communities which are coming up across the nation. The death of a young Muslim man named Mohammed Altaf in northern Uttar Pradesh was also reported on November 11.