AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat police have arrested an inspector and four lower rank policemen for reportedly killing two alleged history sheeters on January 1 in Rajkot.
The police had earlier claimed that Prakash Lunagariya and Shaktisinh Jhala, whose bodies were recovered from a river bank near Rajkot city, were running a local extortion gang. They said the duo were killed by the gang members over distribution of booty after they robbed some persons.
However, Assistant Commissioner of Police M.J. Solanki, who was supervising the probe on the murders, arrested five policemen on Thursday, namely, police inspector S.N. Gadu, sub-inspector S.B. Solanki and constables Hitesh Parmar, Chetansinh Gohil and Anilsinh Gohil. The probe revealed that the accused had thrashed Jhala and Lunagariya while they were in police custody and threw their bodies on the river bank afterwards.
After the bodies were recovered, the accused policemen lodged two separate First Information Reports (FIR) — one named Jhala and his aide Yuvarajsinh Jhala for Lunagariya’s murder, and another named Lunagariya and his two aides Prakash Parmar and Kadar Malek for Shaktisinh’s murder.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Solanki recalled the events that led to the death of the duo. “Five persons were detained by a Rajkot Police team after raiding a house where country-made liquor was being brewed. Those who were detained were Shaktisinh Jhala, Prakakh Lunagariya — both killed — and Yuvaraj Jhala, Prakash Parmar, and Kadar Malek,” Mr. Sonlaki said.
He added, “They [the detained] were handed over to a local police station in Thorala as they were involved in cases of loot in that area. In that police station, a team led by PI S.N. Gadu reportedly thrashed them, in which two died while Yuvraj Jhala is on ventilator in a hospital.”
“During the investigation, we recorded statements of Yuvraj, Parmar, and Malek, who narrated the entire sequence of events. Their statements were corroborated by the relatives of the deceased and [we] subsequently interrogated the policemen who were found involved in [the case],” Mr. Solanki told reporters.
The accused cops were sent on a four-day police remand by a local court.
“We have booked them for murder and other charges as the two persons died in their custody,” Mr. Solanki said.
