Man picked up by cops dies, kin allege torture

Dhage, a resident of the Panjrapol area in Chembur, used to work as a driver for a private firm and was picked up by police on February 14. His sister Nanda alleged he had been implicated in a false case by his friend, who the police were looking for.

“The friend told Sachin to pose as the suspect, and promised he would be out in a matter of hours. However, he was placed under arrest. We did not even know about it till the next day, when some of his friends told us. Two days later, he was admitted to Sion Hospital. When we went to the hospital, we found his tongue had been cut off and he was in a critical condition,” Nanda claimed.

The Trombay police confirmed they had arrested Sachin for allegedly selling illicit liquor, but denied Nanda’s allegations of torture.

“Sachin started having fits and clamped his mouth shut very hard, biting his own tongue off in the process. We immediately took him to the hospital but he continued to have fits and ultimately died,”said an officer with the

Trombay police. Deputy Commissioner of Police(ZoneVI)LakhmiGautam said, “No evidence to confirm any torture by our officers has come to light so far. We are now waiting for Sachin’s postmortem reports to know the exact cause of his death.Incase, the post-mortem examination points to any foul play, we will order an inquiry.”

mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com