Youth arrested for allegedly abducting minor girl, dies in police custody

Police said the 19-year-old man died by suicide but his father alleged that he died because of police brutality in custody and sought a high level inquiry

A 19-year-old man, who was arrested for abducting a minor girl, died in police custody in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district on Tuesday morning, police said.

Police said the man died by suicide but his father alleged that he died because of police brutality in custody and sought a high level inquiry.

“The man was arrested on Monday from Bhopal for abducting a minor girl. He was brought to Sagar and on Tuesday morning he was found hanging in the lock-up. He used a towel for hanging,” said Sagar additional superintendent of police (ASP), Vikram Singh Kushwaha .

A magisterial inquiry has been ordered in the matter, he added.

The boy’s father said, “My son and the girl were in a relationship. They ran away to Bhopal to marry. On the complaint of the girl’s family, police arrested my son from Bhopal on Monday. They brought him to Jaisinagar police station in Sagar and thrashed him. My son was harassed at the police station and he died due to it. Now, police are trying to hide the matter by calling it death by suicide.” He sought a “fair” inquiry into his son’s death.

Sagar, superintendent of police, Tarun Naik said, “A magisterial inquiry has been announced. FSL team has collected the evidence. We can’t comment on the cause of death as the postmortem report is awaited.”