16 years later, 2 policemen convicted for custodial torture of 22-yr-old man, court clears duo of murder charge

The court, however, found that Altaf Shaikh’s death in custody was a natural death due to respiratory failure, lung pneumonia combined with the effect of alcohol and an addictive drug consumed by him and hence it cannot be said to be murder.

Sub-inspector Sanjay Khedekar ,55, and retired head constable Raghunath Kolekar, 62,  were found guilty on charges including voluntarily causing hurt; causing hurt to a person to extort a confession; wrongful confinement and criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code, while acquitting them of the charges of murder.

The two were granted bail after the order and their sentence was suspended to allow them to file an appeal against the judgment.

Another accused in the case passed away in 2023, pending trial.

Altaf Shaikh, who had pending criminal cases against him, mainly of theft, was picked up from his home around 4am on September 11, 2009 by the policemen and was found dead a few hours later with multiple internal and external injuries including on his head.

Special Judge A V Gujarathi said that while the policemen had every authority to legally arrest Altaf for inquiry but no legal record was made to show that he was detained and brought to the police station, nor was an explanation given on the injuries found on him during post-mortem.

“Admittedly, since Altaf was brought by the accused persons to the police station till he was shifted to the hospital he was in the custody of the accused persons. Therefore, the burden to explain the injuries found on the person of the deceased was on the accused but the accused failed to discharge the said burden. Further there is no satisfactory explanation from the accused persons as to why they did not make entry of bringing Altaf to the police station, he was not arrested, no arrest panchnama was prepared. All these facts clearly shows that Altaf was wrongfully confined in the detection room of the Ghatkopar police station and was tortured and thereby injuries caused to him, with intent to extract confession,” special judge Gujarathi said in the judgment.

The defence had claimed that there was an externment order against Altaf which he had flouted by entering city limits.

According to submissions made by special public prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves with lawyers Abhijeet Sarnobat and Shruti Golipkar, the accused policemen went to the house of Altaf in the early hours of September 11, 2009, and brought him to Ghatkopar police station for an investigation in another case.

Altaf’s sister Yasmin and mother Mehrunissa  told the court as witnesses that the policemen knocked on their door around 4am and inquired about Altaf.

When they told him he was sleeping, they entered the house and began slapping and beating him.

Mehrunissa said that the men, one of whom identified himself as sub-inspector Khedekar, said that they were taking Altaf to the police station as per instructions of superior officers.

He was forcibly beaten and taken in an autorickshaw, they told the court, identifying Khedekar and Kolekar as the men who had taken Altaf away.

Around 9 am, an officer at the police station saw Altaf lying down in the detection room and asked a policeman to wake him up. When he did not wake up, he was taken to the hospital where he was declared dead.

During the trial, two medical expert panel reports were considered.

One was by a panel of doctors who had conducted the post-mortem. One of the doctors had deposed on combined use of alcohol and Alprazolam by Altaf as the reason which could have caused the death, while another said that injuries were seen on his body and the assault on his head could have accelerated the death, causing a hemorrhage.

The investigators had also sought a report from the forensic medicine department of AIIMS in New Delhi.

The AIIMS report said that the nature of injuries noticed on Altaf were unlikely to have caused his death individually, and that chances of death due to a hemorrhage is minimal.

The court said that the AIIMS report was ‘more reliable”, clearing the two policemen of the charge of murder, causing Altaf’s death.

The court also observed that while other policemen on duty who deposed as witnesses, had “tried to save the accused” by claiming that they had no knowledge about who brought Altaf to the police station, it was proved based on other evidence on record.