SHO among six cops suspended in Ghazipur over man’s death, 5 shifted

Following the incident, Ghazipur District Magistrate Avinash Kumar ordered a magisterial inquiry and a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted to probe the incident. The SIT is headed by Varanasi DCP Gaurav Banswal and includes Additional DCP Anshuman Mishra and ACP Nitin Taneja.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Iraj Raja said action will follow the inquiry’s findings. He noted that no FIR has been registered so far because the victim’s family has not filed a complaint. “We have removed the personnel from active duty to ensure the inquiry proceeds without influence,” an official added.

A senior official said the postmortem report revealed congestive heart disease as the cause of death but also recorded four injuries on the body, raising questions that investigators aim to resolve.

Authorities say the protest began as a dispute between two groups over the installation of electricity poles, with one group accusing another of erecting poles on private land without consent.

On September 9, villagers staged a sit-in outside the Nonhara police station seeking action; police told protesters the matter fell under another department. The crowd dispersed after a disruption in power supply that night, officials said, and Upadhyay was taken to hospital the next day.

The following day, however, Siyaram Upadhyay, one of the protesters, was admitted to a hospital and subsequently died during treatment.

Locals alleged he was severely beaten by the police personnel during the protest, leading to his death; the police maintained that the cause of death was under investigation.