| Post-mortem debunks cop claim |
11th February 2009
Jan. 15: The post-mortem report on a man who collapsed and died at Frazer Town police station on Wednesday is likely to cause further embarrassment for the city police that is already under fire for a custodial death at Hamunathanagar police station on December 25.
While the cops claim that Arun, 28, was drunk when he was brought to the police station, the post-mortem report from Bowring Hospital, that is yet to be handed to the police, says there were no traces of liquor in his body. Arun, accused of attempted murder, collapsed and died at Frazer Town police station on Wednesday.
According to the police, Arun, a resident of Pottery Town, collapsed in the quadrangle of the police station and was taken to a private hospital where he was declared brought dead. The post-mortem report indicates that Arun may have died due to tachycardia — a sudden, abnormal increase in heart beat — due to sheer fear of being in police custody for his alleged crime.
“His vital organs were normal. There was a minor abrasion at the back of his chest on the right but that was definitely not the cause of death. He may have either fallen or it his body been dragged,” said an official source.
An inquiry has been ordered into Arun’s death and city police commissioner Shankar Bidari has sought a report from the DCP east by Sunday evening. Mr Bidari said Arun had attacked Vijay with a knife near Frazer Town at around 5.20 pm. Vijay had gone to purchase sugarcane with his friend Ravi. Arun picked up a quarrel with Vijay and assaulted him with a knife. The police took Vijay and Arun to police station and Vijay was sent to Bowring Hospital for treatment.
Arun was detained in an open area in Frazer Town police station and Vijay was brought back to the station at about 7.20 pm, after being treatment for his injuries, and his statement recorded. A case under section 370, for attempted murder, was registered against Arun and the investigating officer went to the spot to conduct ‘spot panchanama’.
“The accused suddenly collapsed around 9.30 pm. He was immediately taken to a private hospital in Frazer Town. He was pronounced dead there. A case of unnatural death was registered and is being investigated,” Mr Bidari said. Frazer Town police officers have been instructed to follow all guidelines issued by the NHRC regarding custodial deaths, he added.
The commissioner said Arun was a drunkard and took drugs. “In 2007, he allegedly set his wife on fire in JC Nagar police limits,” Mr Bidari said. The case has been transferred to the CoD.
Senior officials from State Human Rights Commission inspected the Frazer Town Police Station, based on a complaint filed by the South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (Sichrem). Prakash Kariappa, Sichrem’ Fact Finding Committee coordinator, said the reports given to the SHRC by a senior police official showed that none of the 12 guidelines to be followed by police in case of arrests or detentions had been followed. Arun’s parents has not been informed of his arrest. “It is an illegal detention. We will wait and see what the SHRC does. We may go to court to ensure that his family is compensated,” Mr Kariappa said. Pratap, Arun’s uncle, admitted that his nephew had a drinking problem. “The police must have harassed and scared him,” he said.
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