Custodial death: Ludhiana police seeks stay on FIR against cops

A financial firm employee, who had been arrested on charges of vehicle theft, had died in February this year

The police department has filed an application seeking a stay on the registration of FIR against Division Number 5 station house officer (SHO) Richa Rani and other cops in the custodial death case of a financial firm employee, who had been arrested on charges of vehicle theft. The matter has been listed for next hearing on July 31.

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The incident had taken place in February this year. The deceased, Deepak Shukla, had been picked up by the police on February 22 and presented in the court on February 24. The court had sent him to judicial remand but the police allegedly kept him in their custody illegally till February 25.

During the hearing of the case, police stated that due to the delay in medical examination, they got late and decided to keep Shukla in custody for one more night.

KIN CLAIM HE WAS TORTURED

Shukla’s father had stated that the cops had demanded Rs 1.5 lakh bribe from the family for not registering a vehicle-theft case. “On February 26 when I went to meet my son, I found that he was unable to walk properly. Deepak told me that the cops had tortured him. I immediately moved court and lodged an application but the next day around 6am, we got a call from the jail that Deepak had died,” he said.

The victim’s uncle, Rakesh Shukla, claimed that the police constantly tried to keep the family away from court proceedings. He alleged that the summons sent to them had been sent on the wrong address. The family has also filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High court seeking FIR against the errant cops. Next hearing of the case is on August 7.