MUMBAI, April 15: All the five Government Railway Police (GRP) officials who were allegedly responsible for the death of Sanjay Badgujar on April 12 while he was in custody will be charged with murder."Prime facie it appears that Sanjay died after the assault in police custody and therefore it has been decided to book the officials under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. It has also been decided to hand over the case to Criminal Investigation Department (CID) with immediate effect," Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde told the legislative assembly today.In addition Munde also declared that a compensation of Rs one lakh will be paid to Badgujar's family and his younger brother will be given a job with the police force.Replying to a debate on the Opposition sponsored adjournment motion, Munde said in keeping with the standing guidelines and directives of the National Human Rights Commission, the entire post-mortem has been videographed and the case has been transferred to the CID.Mundesaid Sanjay Badgujar alias Suresh Manohar Kadam was arrested by the GRP officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus on April 7 following a complaint lodged by a passenger. Subsequently, he was remanded to police custody till April 14.It was on April 8 that Sanjay fell unconscious in the police station itself prompting the officials on duty to admit in the neighbouring St George Hospital. Sanjay died in the hospital on the night of April 12."Immediately after he was declared dead, I was informed by the senior officials of the department about the tragedy. I asked them to videograph the postmortem as per the standing orders of the National Human Rights Commission." Munde said.Referring to the charge of Opposition that there was a sudden spurt in custodial deaths in Maharashtra, Munde said in the current year, only one death has been reported so far. "As per the records of the National Human Rights Commission, Maharashtra does not figure in the list of first five states with largest number ofcustodial deaths," he added.Earlier, initiating the debate, both leader of opposition Madhukar Pichad and senior Congress member Raosaheb Patil launching a frontal attack on the alliance government for deteriorating law and order situation in the metropolis, "While poor persons are harassed by the police, rich persons get a royal treatment in the police stations", Patil said.
