Man arrested in excise case dies in custody, family alleges torture

Tanveer’s family members on Wednesday said they were not informed about his arrest or subsequent death soon as it happened

Noida: A 35-year-old man, who was picked up by Noida’s Sector 39 police late Tuesday night, died in custody four to five hours of his arrest early Wednesday morning, prompting his family members to allege custodial torture that ended in his death. Senior police officers have refuted the allegations on Wednesday and said he was suffering from an illness since the past four to five years, and prima facie, it is suspected that he died of a heart attack.

The Sector 39 police station in Noida where a 35-year-old man in custody collapsed and died early Wednesday, (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Police identified the dead man was Tanveer, who went by a single name, and hailed from Arariya in Bihar. “He resided with his family in Challera in Sector 45, under the jurisdiction of Sector 39 police station, and was a painter by profession,” said Manish Kumar Mishra, additional commissioner of police, Noida.

Tanveer’s family members on Wednesday said they were not informed about his arrest or subsequent death soon as it happened. They got to know about it only around 11am on Wednesday, even though it is suspected that Tanveer died in the early hours of Wednesday, said Mohammed Alam, one of Tanveer’s relatives.

Soon, family and friends started gathering at the Sector 41 police outpost, after which the police called in additional force to diffuse the situation.

“After finishing work on Tuesday around 9pm, Tanveer was seated on the boundary wall of a park near Amrapali Sapphire along with co-worker Rabban, and having a smoke when a police van stopped by and two officers approached them from behind,” said Alam, adding that the officers asked them to come with them to the police outpost and gave them no reason for the demand.

“Initially, they (police) took them to a police outpost and put Tanveer and Rabban in separate rooms. Later, they took them to Sector 39 police station, where Tanveer’s health deteriorated around 4am and he died. We suspect that he was subjected to custodial torture that led to his death,” said Alam.

“We were informed about Tanveer’s death around 11am after which his elder brother, who resides in Okhla, rushed to the Sector 41 police outpost, where all the senior officers were gathered,” said Alam.

Primary investigation revealed that Tanveer suffered from “low blood pressure” and died of a heart attack, Alam said, quoting what the police told them.

Additional DCP Mishra said, “It was following a tip-off that the Sector 39 police arrested Tanveer from Kashi Ram Park around 12.30am and booked him under the Excise Act after 39 countrymade liquor bottles were recovered from his possession.”

“Around 4am, when Tanveer was at the Sector 39 police station, his condition started deteriorating. Police officers on night duty rushed him to a nearby hospital, from where he was referred to Safdarjung hospital in Delhi, where he died,” Mishra said.

“His medical record revealed that he was in an inebriated condition, and his blood pressure was also very low when he collapsed. He was a heart patient who also had hypotension, and we have all documents to show that he was under medication for the past five years,” said ADCP Mishra, adding that apart from the medical report, CCTV cameras installed at the police station also recorded his collapse and police rushing him to the hospital.

The ADCP denied all allegations that he was assaulted in police custody. “We will follow all legal processes, including a judicial probe and if anyone is found guilty, strict action will be taken against that person,” said Mishra.

However, Alam said their family had no information about the recovery of liquor bottles from Tanveer’s possession or his involvement in any such activity. Police are also preventing us from meeting Rabban, who was asked to sit in a locked room in the Sector 41 police outpost. In truth, we don’t know what happened to Tanveer,” said Alam.

Police and the family are now awaiting the post mortem report to find out the cause of death. Further investigation is underway in the matter, said police.