Parbhani custodial death: Bombay HC directs Maharashtra Police to form SIT for probe

The HC had on July 4 passed an interim order to register an FIR in the case based on a complaint filed by Somnath’s mother on December 18, 2024, which made allegations against police officers and that the investigation be handed over to an officer of the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP).

A division bench of Justices Vibha V Kanknanwadi and Sanjay A Deshmukh, last month, while passing an order on plea by the Vijayabai Vyankat Suryawanshi, mother of the deceased, argued by advocate Prakash Ambedkar had noted that there was a “prima facie material on record” to show that “cognizable offence was made out”, therefore the state should have registered the FIR.

The Supreme Court on July 30 had upheld HC’s interim order, after which an FIR was lodged by Parbhani Police. On Thursday, the HC bench directed the Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) to form an SIT to probe the case within a week.

Somnath Suryawanshi (35), a labourer and law student from a nomadic tribe, was one of nearly 50 individuals taken into custody by Parbhani police on December 11, 2024, following violent protests that were staged over a December 10 incident, where a replica of the Indian Constitution outside Parbhani Railway station had been vandalised. Somnath died in judicial custody in a local jail on December 15 last year, which police claimed was due to a heart attack.

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