By Abdul Hameed, TwoCircles.net,
Mumbai: A shameful case of negligence on the part of police. An unidentified corpse is taken out of a farm well in Nanded district and without following the normal procedure in such case it is cremated on the order of a police officer. The dead later turns out to be Muslim youth (30). Now, his heirs and local Muslims are demanding suspension of the guilty police officer.
The body was found in a farm well owned by Godeshvar Madhura Deshmukh in Choramba village under Manatha police station in Hadgaon Taluka of Nanded district. As soon as police Patel Anjan Rao Nirai came to know of the incident he informed Manatha police station where a case of accidental death was filed. Assistant sub-inspector Waghamare, who was on duty at the time, took the corpse out of the well with the help of the villagers who had gathered there. The corpse had the green sweater and a black coat on it. There were reportedly some injury marks on the face of the dead body. Allegedly without identifying the cadaver the police officer handed over the body to the villagers who criminated it before him.
Muhammad Ayyub Qasmi, Nanded president of Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, told TwoCIrcles.net: ‘The village where the corpse was found is dominated by non-Muslims. No Muslims claimed that the body was of a Muslim at the time because apparently there were no signs of his being Muslim. Therefore the police handed over the body to the non-Muslim villagers who criminated it,’ told Qasmi.
But later it was found that the corpse was of Aslam Shaikh, son of Shaikh Sufi, a resident of Sharwasti Nagar in Nanded city. Sufi had filed a complaint with Shivaji Nagar police station in Nanded on January 5 that his 30-year-old son Shaikh Aslam, whose mental balance was not good, was missing since January 1 and that he had green sweater and black coat on his body. The police had filed the complaint and the investigation was on.
Some days later, Shaikh Sufi got information that in the jurisdiction of Manatha police station a corpse of a youth was found. He went there along with some Muslims and corporator of Nanded Umesh Chauhan for verification but the police did not help him. But a photographer had taken photo of the corpse. After seeing the photo Shaikh Sufi and Aslam’s wife verified that it was of Aslam Shaikh.
It is to be noted that after an unidentified corpse is found it is put into morgue for two days. Many photos of the corpse are captured, its finger prints are also taken, information regarding the dead body is collected from different police stations and the photo of the corpse is published in newspapers for identification. Shaikh’s family is angry why all this was not followed and he was cremated. They are demanding suspension of the guilty police officer.
“We have met sub-inspector Ravendra Kumar Singhal and gave him a memorandum. He has admitted the mistake of the police and said the guilty officer will be punished,” said Muhammad Ayyub of Jamiat Ulema.