Students on rampage in Ajmer after leader’s death in custody

State Home Minister Gulab Singh Shaktawat told The Indian Express here this evening that a case of murder had been registered against the staff of the Clock Tower police station where Meghvanshi died, on a complaint by his father, Mohan Lal Meghvanshi, an employee of the commercial taxes department of the state government at Ajmer.

He said seven police personnel have been placed under suspension. They include circle inspector Har Sahai Meena, assistant sub-inspector DP Dadheech, Dewan Rajendra Yadav, constables Sugriv Singh, Om Prakash and Gopa Ram and driver Shiv Prasad. Shaktawat said the Crime Branch of the CID had been asked to investigate the case. The statement of Ashok Chaudhry, who was picked up along with Meghvanshi by the police has been recorded by a magistrate.

Reports from Ajmer said Dharmendhra and Ashok were passing by the Ajmer railway station on a scooter around 12.30 am last night when they were intercepted by the police. The police, finding them in an inebriated state, took them to the Clock Tower police station. Around 1.30 am, the police carried Dharmendhra, who was lying unconscious, to Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital, where he was declared brought dead.

What happened in between was not explained by the police, with senior district officials avoiding calls from the media. However, sources said an altercation ensued between the boys and the policemen, after which the police personnel hit them, leading to Dharmendhra’s death.

People at Ajmer were unaware of Ashok’s fate as he remained out of bounds for all of them. They apprehended that he had also met the same fate. However, Shaktawat told The Indian Express that Ashok was in custody and his statement had been recorded by a magistrate.

The police, reports said, did not announce Dharmendhra’s death voluntarily till the morning. It was around 6.30 am that someone tipped off Mohan Lal Meghvanshi about his son’s death in custody. The word spread among students, who staged a demonstration at the Clock Tower police station, stoned buses, disrupted traffic and persuaded the shopkeepers to roll down their shutters. It was then that the police admitted that Dharmendhra had died in custody. As the violence continued, the state government intervened.

In the meanwhile, the students resorted to a dharna to prevent a post-mortem examination of the student-leader till the entire staff of the police station was arrested. The protest demonstration at the hospital was continuing till reports came in last.