Omar Rashid 
New Delhi: Two weeks after being accused of causing the death of a young Dalit man in Lucknow, the police in the Uttar Pradesh capital are under fire for another custodial death. A trader belonging to the Brahmin community, Mohit Pandey, who was in his early thirties, died in police custody on October 26, after being arrested in connection with a minor dispute.
Pandey’s family alleged that he died after being beaten by police following his arrest and that he was apprehended and assaulted at the behest of a politically-connected person whose identity is not yet known.
The custodial death has once again put the Yogi Adityanath government in the dock, as UP has consistently ranked among the worst states when it comes to cases of deaths in police custody.
After protest by relatives, Adityanath meets family
Facing pressure after Pandey’s relatives staged a protest against the police by placing his body outside a ministers’ residence complex, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on October 28 met the family of the deceased at his official residence and directed officials to provide them immediate financial assistance of ₹ 10 lakh along with a house, free education to the children and benefits of other government schemes to the family.
A criminal case was also lodged against the station house officer of the police station where Pandey was kept on the charges of murder and criminal intimidation.
With by-elections on nine seats in the state set to be held soon, the Opposition parties have cornered the government over the incident to highlight the alleged highhandedness of the police under the rule of Adityanath. The Opposition have also tried to project the incident as another case of atrocities against the dominant and vocal Brahmin community.
In her police complaint, Pandey’s mother Tapeshwari Devi said that on the night of October 25, her sons got into a dispute and minor scuffle with one Adesh. Following the dispute, both sides dialled 112 to summon emergency assistance from. A police car arrived and took Mohit to the Chinhat police station in east Lucknow at around 10 pm.
Devi said that when her elder son Shobaram went to the police station to inquire about his younger brother Mohit, police locked him up as well, accusing him of being drunk. She alleged that while police let off the other side, they kept her sons in custody, first separately and then together. She accused the police of brutally assaulting Mohit.
‘They beat my son Mohit so much that he died in the lockup’
“They beat my son Mohit so much that he died in the lockup,” she said in the FIR. Talking to reporters, Mohit’s uncle Ramdesh Pandey alleged that the police got Mohit admitted in a hospital even though he had already died in custody. He also alleged that a political person, Adesh’s uncle, directed the police to assault Mohit, which caused his death. The identity of the “neta” referred to by the family is not yet known.
Devi also said that when the family went to the police station the next day, they were not allowed to see Mohit. The family was also not allowed to see his body from close at the hospital before it was sent for post mortem, she alleged.
An FIR was lodged at Chinhat police station against Adesh, his uncle (described as ‘neta’) and Ashwani Kumar Chaturvedi, the station house officer, under whose watch the incident took place. Chaturvedi was also suspended, keeping in view the allegations against him, said Lucknow police.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (East) Lucknow, Pankaj Kumar Singh said Mohit’s health deteriorated soon after he was put in the lockup. Mohit was taken to the community health centre in Chinhat from where he was referred to the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, where he died, said the officer.
Lucknow police in a statement on October 27 said that the postmortem could not ascertain the cause of Mohit’s death. The viscera was preserved for chemical analysis and the heart preserved for histopathological examination, said police.
While Lucknow police is internally probing the incident, deputing the station house officer of Gomti Nagar Extension to investigate the custodial death, Opposition leaders have demanded a high-level probe.
Along with Opposition, BJP leaders too condemn incident
Those who condemned the incident included the deputy chief minister of UP Brajesh Pathak, who also hails from the Brahmin community. Pathak, who spoke to Mohit’s family, said that the government had taken the incident “seriously.” He promised that strict action would be taken against those who were guilty. If negligence of higher officials is proven, strict action will be taken against them as well,” said Pathak.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati described the incident as “highly condemnable” and backed the protest by the family, saying that their “anger” was understandable. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav pointed out that the incident was the second case of custodial death in Lucknow in the last two weeks.
“The government, which is an expert in changing names, should change the name of ‘police custody’ to ‘torture house’,” said Yadav. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that the police in UP under the rule of the BJP had become “synonymous with brutality.”
BJP MLA from Loni in Ghaziabad Nand Kishor Gurjar too condemned the death and said that merely booking the station house officer was not sufficient. The case should be tried in a fast track court and justice in this case should become a “precedent,” said Gurjar.
Earlier this month, a Dalit man in his mid-twenties, Aman Gautam, died suddenly after being picked up by policemen in Lucknow allegedly during a raid against gamblers. Gautam’s family alleged that he died after being assaulted by the police. The police, however, claimed that Gautam died due to a heart attack he suffered soon after being rounded up into a police vehicle.
Amid protests by the family and Opposition party workers, a criminal case was lodged against four policemen of the PRV (Police Response Vehicle) that picked up Gautam on the night of October 11 on the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.