Jharkhand: Man held for theft dies, family alleges custodial torture

Hazaribagh SP Manoj Ratan Chothe said: “Manzar was caught red-handed by his neighbours and the police were called. On Tuesday, while he was in the lockup, he used a rope to strangle himself… Khan was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him dead.”

Chothe said that the postmortem was video-recorded. “I have never seen a case like this in my entire career… but prima facie it is not a murder. However, if anything comes up in the CID’s investigation we will register a murder case.”

At Barhi, Manzar Khan’s uncle Zahid Khan said that it was a ‘clear case of custodial torture’ leading to the death. Zahid said that Manzar was the only earning member of his house and he worked as a car driver. Zahid added that Manzar’s father suffers from paralysis.

“When Manzar was caught allegedly for stealing, I was told that police beat him up. Also, the whole theory that he strangled himself is very weird. We were told that he tore his trousers and hung himself. Now, I am listening to something new that he strangled himself. It is not possible, and I am assuming that he was beaten up in the lock-up.”

Zahid also questioned why Manzar was not produced before a judge soon after his arrest. “There were marks around his neck, but there seemed to be other injuries too. We too will be filing a complaint soon,” he said.