Police accused of beating man to death

Two policemen allegedly beat to death a 21-year-old man accused of petty theft in Swaroop Nagar on Friday.

The policemen had picked up the victim Umesh Kumar and his friends for interrogation after neighbour in their outer Delhi area alleged the men had stolen Rs 1,500 from his house.

The policemen –– Head Constable Surendra Kumar and Constable Lokesh Chauhan –– have been placed under suspension and a vigilance enquiry has been initiated.

Umesh lived in Nathupura colony, Swaroop Nagar and worked as a truck helper.

On Thursday, Hitler, a resident of DCM colony alleged Umesh and his three friends barged into his house and stole Rs 1500.

“The two policemen took us to the Ibrahimpur police booth. They started beating up Umesh and he lost consciousness,” said Atul who was also picked up for questioning. He added they were released after they paid Rs 300 each.

Umesh returned home and complained of a stomach pain. He was rushed to a private hospital where his condition deteriorated. He succumbed to his injuries around 10 pm on Thursday.

“I rushed my son to hospital where he died. The policemen beat him up black and blue. They had taken my elder son Subhash into custody when they did not find Umesh at home. When Umesh reached the police booth, they let off Subhash and asked us to leave the premises. They must have beaten him up after that,” alleged Munni Devi, Umesh’s mother.

After her son’s death, Munni called up the police control room (PCR) and alleged two policemen had beaten up her son.

The body was sent for postmortem at Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital. “We have initiated a vigilance enquiry into the case, apart from that we have also asked the Sub Divisional Magistrate to probe into the matter. The men were not taken to any police post or police station,” said Sagarpreet Hooda, DCP (Outer).

Further investigations were on, the DCP added.