The Odisha Human Rights Commission on Monday sought a report on convicted gangster SK Hyder Ali’s death in police firing while trying to escape on Saturday afternoon.
Taking suo-motu cognizance, the commission issued notices to additional chief secretary (Home), Odisha DG, director general of prisons and Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate Police.
According to police’s version, 58-year old Hyder, serving sentence in a murder case and accused in several other cases, was being shifted to a jail in Baripada town of Mayurbhanj district in a police van from Choudwar circle jail on Saturday when he asked the cops to stop for attending to nature’s call. After getting down from the police van at Simulia in Balasore district, he tried to snatch an AK-47 from the sub-inspector and flee, forcing the cops to fire at him, they said.
Balasore additional district medical officer Sushant Nayak said four bullets were found in the gangster’s body.
Hyder’s wife Hasina Bibi alleged that her husband was killed in cold blood by police. “For 16 years my husband was lodged in jail and every time I cooperated with the police. Even when he escaped from the jail in April this year, I fully cooperated with the cops. I demand investigation into my husband’s death by an independent agency,” she said.
Former director general of police (DGP) Sanjiv Marik said people were rightly suspicious of the circumstances leading to the gangster’s alleged encounter. “It is hard to believe that 10 policemen failed to overpower an old person who should have been hand-cuffed as he was a dreaded convict and had escaped from SCB Medical College in Cuttack in April during treatment. A thorough inquiry by an independent agency, ideally by a high court judge, should be conducted to ensure transparency,” said Marik.
{{/usCountry}}Former director general of police (DGP) Sanjiv Marik said people were rightly suspicious of the circumstances leading to the gangster’s alleged encounter. “It is hard to believe that 10 policemen failed to overpower an old person who should have been hand-cuffed as he was a dreaded convict and had escaped from SCB Medical College in Cuttack in April during treatment. A thorough inquiry by an independent agency, ideally by a high court judge, should be conducted to ensure transparency,” said Marik.
{{/usCountry}}The police inspector who led the escort team to shift Hyder to Baripada Circle Jail wrote in his FIR that at around 3.20 pm, Hyder asked him to stop the vehicle to attend nature’s call. “I, along with my staff, asked the driver not to stop the vehicle from a security point of view, but Hyder insisted, claiming he was suffering from acute diabetes and had to attend to the call of nature. Hyder then requested that his handcuffs be unlocked to attend to nature’s call and wash his hands. As soon as the escort havildar unlocked one side of the cuff, he immediately snatched away an AK-47 from havildar Surya Kumar Rout and pointed the gun towards the escort party while hurling abuses in Hindi,” Gangadhar Saseni, a police inspector from Cuttack said in the FIR.
The inspector said to save the police personnel from imminent danger of death, sub-inspector Asit Jena fired 3 rounds from his service pistol in Hyder’s lower part of the body, below the waist, with the purpose to immobilise him and to prevent him from opening fire.
In April this year, Hyder, serving life sentence since 2015 in a case of abduction and murder of a trader, escaped from a government medical college cum hospital in Odisha after drugging the policeman in charge of his security. He was arrested 5 days later from Sangareddy district of Telangana.