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Muslim youth dies in custody in UP's Kasganj; Cops say suicide, kin differs
A senior officer also said that at least five personnel on duty have been suspended for negligence in the wake of the incident.
A 22-year-old youth belonging to the minority community, who was summoned for questioning at Kasganj police station in Uttar Pradesh in a kidnapping case, has reportedly died in custody.
A PTI report said that while the youth's family members have alleged that he was killed by personnel on duty, police said the deceased strangulated himself using a string from his jacket hood in the washroom of the lock-up.
A senior officer also said that at least five personnel on duty have been suspended for negligence in the wake of the incident.
“One Altaf (of Nagla Syed locality) was called for questioning in Kasganj police station in a case related to IPC section 363 (kidnapping) and 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel her marriage) on Tuesday morning,” said Rohan Pramod Botre, Kasganj superintendent of police.
"During interrogation, he requested the policemen to go to the washroom and was allowed to use the washroom inside the lockup. He was wearing a black coloured jacket. He tried to strangulate himself with a string on the (jacket) hood that he tied to the tap of the toilet. When he did not return for some time, the policemen went inside and found him unconscious. He was rushed to the community health centre, Ashok Nagar in Kasganj, where he died," the SP said.
Botre said the post mortem of the deceased is being conducted, adding punishment would be meted out in case laxity was found on the part of officers on duty.
Meanwhile, the opposition Samajwadi Party attacked the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government and branded the incident as another misdeed of UP's "thoko (trigger-happy) police".
"In UP, under the patronage of the chief minister, criminals and police are committing an encounter of law and order. The guilty policemen should face a murder case and must be punished," the Samajwadi Party wrote on its official Twitter handle in Hindi.
Earlier, a sanitation worker, who was accused of stealing ₹25 lakh from Jagdishpura police station in Agra, died in police custody after his health deteriorated during interrogation.
