Prayagraj youth dies in ‘police custody’, SSP recommends magisterial probe

A 27-year-old youth identified as Lokesh Sharma of Meera Gali in Daraganj locality of Prayagraj allegedly died while in custody of Daraganj police on Thursday evening—a charge the police denied

A 27-year-old youth identified as Lokesh Sharma of Meera Gali in Daraganj locality of Prayagraj allegedly died while in custody of Daraganj police on Thursday evening—a charge the police denied.

The family of the youth claimed that he was not suffering from any disease. (For Representation)

Senior superintendent of police, Prayagraj, Shailesh Kumar Pandey denied that Lokesh was beaten up in police custody and claimed he died of an epileptic attack. The case had been forwarded to district administration for a magisterial enquiry, SSP added.

Meanwhile, the family of Lokesh claimed that he was not suffering from any disease and alleged that he died in police custody. They further alleged that they were not allowed to see his body.

They claimed that Lokesh’s mother Pushpa went to meet him at police station where he was told that he will be released after an hour. They alleged that a cop demanded ₹5,000 in return of Lokesh’s release.

Meanwhile, a post-mortem was carried out on the youth’s body on Friday during which viscera and heart were preserved for detailed examination to ascertain the exact cause of his death, police said. The youth was detained on Wednesday night after he allegedly entered into a scuffle with a woman in a dispute over a passage in his neighbourhood.

According to reports, Lokesh was kept at the police lockup at Daraganj police station on Wednesday with some others. As the woman, who called the Dial-112, did not give any written complaint, Daraganj police arrested Lokesh under section 151 of the IPC and 107/16 of the CrPC for disturbing peace. On Thursday evening, police took Lokesh and others to Tej Bahadur Sapru (Beli) Hospital for medical examination where he died.