Mystery shrouds death of man in police custody in Vizag

He was picked up on the charge of cheating gullible youth, says Police Commissioner

October 03, 2010 09:23 pm | Updated 09:23 pm IST - VISAKHAPATNAM:

A man died in custody at the Fifth Town Police Station allegedly due to ‘police torture'. The police, however, claim that the accused died of a heart attack. The police said that he was taken to hospital as soon as he complained of discomfort in the chest and died while undergoing treatment.

Nakka Suresh, 28, was taken into custody by the police for interrogation on Thursday for allegedly cheating gullible youth, forging the signature of the Joint Collector and issuing fake appointment orders.

He died around midnight on Friday. His father Satyam, a retired Head Constable, said that his son had died in the police lock-up.

“We will enquire into the incident. The RDO will conduct an inquest and based on the post-mortem report, action will be initiated, if there was any lapse on the part of our men,” Police Commissioner J. Purnachandra Rao said when contacted.

“The man had cheated 69 persons. A sum of Rs. 21 lakhs was recovered from the house of the accused within a day after he was taken into custody. He had complained of discomfort in the chest while having his dinner and was shifted to the King George Hospital (KGH). It appeared that he had a cardiac problem,” Mr. Purnachandra Rao said.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Forum (HRF) District Committee led by its vice-president Ch. Suryanarayana and general secretary K. Anuradha visited the police station on Saturday and interacted with the staff and the father of the victim.

HRF demand

The HRF leaders said that Suresh was taken into custody in a cheating case on September 30. The next morning, his house was searched and several lakhs of rupees and other valuables were seized by the police. They said that the police officials had declined to show the case record and there were variations in the statements of the Assistant Commissioner of Police U. Ravi Prakash and CI K. Prabhakar regarding the time of arrest.

Quoting doctors, they also noted that the victim was unconscious when he was taken to the King George Hospital. They demanded booking of cases against the police officials on duty under Section 302 of the IPC and conduct of an enquiry by a magistrate.

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