Man dies at west Delhi police station, probe on

The man was involved in over 18 cases including those of robbery, snatching, and theft. Senior officers said a judicial officer is carrying out a probe

A 36-year-old man, involved in over 18 cases including those of robbery, snatching, and theft, died under mysterious circumstances inside the lock-up of Netaji Subhash Place (NSP) police station in northwest Delhi on Sunday morning, where he was kept after being arrested in an Arms Act case, the Delhi Police said.

The family of the deceased man, identified as Sheikh Sahadat from Jahangirpuri, alleged that he was assaulted and tortured at the police station and died because of his injuries. (Representational Image)

The family of the deceased man, identified as Sheikh Sahadat from Jahangirpuri, alleged that he was assaulted and tortured at the police station and died because of his injuries. They also alleged that a sub-inspector (SI) from NSP police station demanded ₹1 lakh from them for his release. Senior police officers said the allegations of the family were being looked into by the judicial officer carrying out the probe.

According to the rules in matters of suspected custodial death, a magisterial probe was initiated into Shahadat’s death, police added. Police had secured his one-day custody from a city court on Saturday.

“A request to constitute a board of doctors to conduct the postmortem was sent to the authority concerned. The exact cause of death would be ascertained after the autopsy. Following the procedures in the custodial deaths, the magistrate concerned is conducting a probe,” said deputy commissioner of police (DCP) (northwest) Jitender Meena.

DCP Meena said that the suspected custodial death came to light around 6.30am after a sentry on duty outside the lock-up found him breathing heavily and alerted senior police officers. Sahadat was rushed to Baba Sahab Ambedkar Hospital, where he was declared brought dead. The body was shifted to the mortuary for postmortem.

According to the police, Sahadat and four others were apprehended on Friday from NSP with two country-made pistols and nine cartridges. All five were booked for possessing illicit firearms and taken for interrogation.

A case under sections 25, 35, 54, and 59 of the Arms Act was registered on Friday and they were arrested on Saturday.

“The five were produced before a city court. The team secured one-day police custody of Sahadat for further investigation to ascertain the source of the arms and why they were arranged. The other four were sent to jail,” said the DCP, adding that according to the procedure, Shahadat’s medical examination was conducted on Saturday evening before he was taken to the lock-up, after which he was doing fine, police said.

Sahadat’s niece, Sana, said that her uncle along with four people had left his Jahangirpuri home in a car to have dinner in the NSP area. The NSP police station’s team caught them on their way and took them to the police station.

“My uncle was beaten up the entire night. We were not allowed to meet him. Police told us they recovered weapons from my uncle. We requested them to release him. An SI demanded ₹1 lakh for it. Being poor, we expressed our inability to pay that amount and were asked to meet him in court on Monday,” said Sana.

She added that on Sunday morning, her family was informed on the phone that Shahadat was unwell, and was admitted to the hospital. “We reached the hospital and learnt that he was dead. My uncle was fine when he was caught or produced before the court. If something happened to him in the night, why were we not informed about it,” said Sana.