By Pradeep Singh, IANS,
Gurgaon : A man whose brother died in police custody in Haryana alleged Thursday that a senior police officer first threatened him with death and then offered Rs.30 lakh to keep mum.
Naresh alias Bhola recorded the complaint before judicial magistrate Ashok Mann here along with his brother Keshav and sister Rajesh Kumari.
They had given their statements in the same court Nov 17 — a day after their brother Sukhbir died — but recorded a statement Thursday too saying they were “mentally disturbed” earlier.
Bhola told IANS that an assistant commissioner of police stopped him near a toll barrier in Palwal district Nov 18 when he was transporting the body of his brother.
“The officer threatened me with dire consequences… The officer wanted us to keep mum on the custodial death of my brother and wanted us to cremate the body without any delay,” Bhola said.
The family refused as it wanted to protest against the custodial death.
Later, the same officer offered the family Rs.30 lakh for not pursuing the case, Bhola added.
Joint Commissioner of Police Vivek Sharma told IANS that the case of custodial death has been handed over to the Crime Branch.
“A judicial inquiry was already on the way. We have asked them (victim’s family) to register their statements,” Sharma told IANS.
The Crime Branch took Sukhbir and his brother Rakesh into custody Nov 15 at Sohna, 26 km from Gurgaon.
Sukhbir died the next day, apparently due to torture. The family was told about it Nov 17.
The first postmortem conducted in a government hospital at Sohna Nov 18 stated that the body bore no sign of injuries.
But a second autopsy indicated that the deceased suffered grave injuries, both internal and external, before his death — indicating torture.
A group of Bawariya community, to which Sukhbir belonged, Thursday left for Rohtak to collect Sukhbir’s body from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences — following a court order.
“Our boys were first falsely arrested and then one of them was brutally murdered by the Crime Branch,” Yogender Singh, president of Bawariya Samaj, told IANS in Gurgaon. “We want justice.”
Police sources said Assistant Commissioner of Police Rao Dalbir Singh will probe the complaint levelled against Rakesh, brother of the dead man who is still in Bhondsi jail.
Gurgaon Police Commissioner Alok Mittal gave the order after the victim’s family met him at his office.