By IANS,
Lucknow : A suspected thief has gone missing from police custody in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district, a week after he was held, and his relatives have accused the police of having killed him and disposed off the body.
The police, however, claim that the accused, Lekhraj, escaped from the lock-up Sunday. An angry mob attacked the Palimukimpur police station in Aligarh, accusing the cops of murder.
“My son was picked up on Nov 3 and when I went to the police station Saturday to give him food, he was badly injured. These men (police) had tortured him badly and he said he was being forced to confess to a crime he had not committed,” Lekhraj’s mother Laungshri told reporters.
“When I again went to meet him Sunday, he was not in the lock-up and the policemen told me that he escaped after cutting the iron grill of the ventilator. He was not able to walk properly, how can he escape?”, she added.
The area is tense and a huge battery of security personnel, including paramilitary forces, have been deployed.
“We have suspended three policemen, including the inspector of the police station and a case under Section 342 (wrongful confinement) and 364 (abduction for murder) of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) has been filed against them,” Aligarh Superintendent of Police Aseem Arun told IANS over telephone.
“We have ordered a probe into the incident and efforts are on to trace Lekhraj,” he added.