East Singhbhum police urges District Judge for judicial enquiry into death of youth in custody

Jamshedpur, Jan 4 (PTI) The East Singhbhum district police has urged the Principal District and Session Judge for a judicial enquiry into the alleged custodial death of a youth.

Jeet Mahato, a resident of Gokulnagar under the MGM police station here, was taken into custody on December 29 for allegedly keeping a stolen mobile phone. However, Mahato's health deteriorated the next day, and he was rushed to MGM Hospital, where he died on December 31.

Mahato's family members alleged that police torture in custody was the reason behind his death.

In a statement on Saturday, district police said Mahato's in-camera post-mortem was conducted in the presence of a magistrate.

Police claimed that there was no sign of external injury on the deceased's body in the death review report.

As per the report of the on-duty doctor of the hospital, it was clearly mentioned that the death was caused due to "complicated cerebral malaria".

In a letter, however, the district police appealed to the Principal District and Session Judge to conduct a judicial enquiry into the entire episode to ensure an impartial and transparent probe.

Now a judicial enquiry will take place into the incident, the statement added.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the BJP led by former Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda met the victim's family members on Saturday.

Munda described the incident as "inhuman and shameful" and demanded a high-level enquiry into the incident.

He also demanded for immediate suspension of Officer-in-Charge of MGM police station and a case of murder should be registered against him.

BJP MP Bidyut Baran Mahato, who met Mahto's family on Friday, said the arrest itself was under suspicion.

Why was the post-mortem conducted in haste and the body cremated?, he questioned.

The BJP MP demanded adequate compensation to the deceased's family as he was the sole bread earner, and stringent action against the police officials responsible for it.

Janata Dal (U) MLA Saryu Roy described the incident as "serious" and demanded a high-level probe.

Roy said police officials responsible for the death of the youth should be identified and punished. PTI BS RG