Three days after a flour mill owner died allegedly due to torture while in police custody in the Agra district of Uttar Pradesh, the police have still not registered a First Information Report (FIR). This comes despite the complaint lodged by his family who are demanding that the officers responsible for his death be charged with murder.
Kedar Singh, 52, who operated a grain mill in Garhi Hisia village, approximately 22 km from Agra town, was summoned to the Kabis police outpost regarding a forgery case in which he was a witness, according to the police.
“His autopsy was conducted by a panel of doctors and their report stated that he died due to the heart attack and the body has no injury marks. The postmortem was videographed. We are investigating the charges in the complaint by his family members and will lodge the FIR once we conclude our inquiry and find laxity on the part of the police at any stage. Action has already been taken against four officers in this regard,” said J Ravinder Gaud, Police Commissioner, Agra.
Three police sub inspectors (SIs) assigned to the Kabis police outpost have been suspended, and a departmental inquiry has been initiated against them. The officer in charge of the Dauki police station has also been reassigned to the police lines due to negligence in duty. The suspended officers are Shivmanagal Singh, the investigating officer (IO) of a forgery case; Sidaarth Chaudhary, the head of the Kabis police outpost; SI Ram Sevak; and Tarun Dhiman, the officer in charge of the Dauki police station.
“We have been instructed by the police to file a complaint, which we have done twice. The officers are delaying the FIR, even though their primary responsibility should be to ensure justice for our family,” said Devendra Singh, the eldest son of the deceased.
“Our father was merely a witness in a case when he was taken away by four police officers from the Kabis police outpost on Thursday afternoon. He was brutally beaten during the process. Once at the outpost, the police continued to assault him while stuffing his mouth with a cloth. He ultimately died as a result of this police torture. We demand that the officers responsible be charged with our father’s murder. Additionally, we request a compensation of Rs 1 crore and a government job for one of his two sons,” said Gajendra Singh, the younger son of the deceased.
Death sparks public outrage, road blockade
Kedar Singh’s death sparked public outrage, leading to a siege at the outpost and the blockage of the Yamuna Expressway for about two hours on Thursday evening.
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“At around 2:45 pm on Thursday, four policemen from Kabis station came to our house and forced my husband to go with them. He rode his motorbike to the station, with a police constable sitting on the back. As soon as they left the village, they began to beat him. Once at the police outpost, they stuffed his mouth with cloth and continued to assault him. Our 16-year-old grandson, Aakash, who was at the Aadhaar centre across from the outpost, witnessed four policemen rushing an unconscious Kedar Singh to the hospital in a hired vehicle. Aakash told us about the incident, and we quickly went to S N Medical College, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival,” claimed Chandrakanta, 47, the wife of the deceased, in her initial complaint filed at the Dauki police station.
Atul Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) for the East Zone in Agra, said the allegations of a death resulting from police torture are under investigation, and he promised that strict action will be taken against the police officials if they are found guilty.
“Kedar Singh and two others were summoned to the Kabis police outpost for an investigation related to a pending case of forgery and fraud. While at the outpost, Singh’s condition deteriorated, prompting authorities to rush him to the medical college, where he was pronounced dead. Doctors indicated that he died of a heart attack,” said Sharma.
The police said Singh was taken to the station regarding a forgery complaint filed by a village resident. “One Ashok Kumar of the village filed a forgery complaint at the police station in November 2023 accusing seven people from the Hisia village, including the gram Pradhan (village head), and a few employees of the local SBI branch, for creating a fake Kisan card in his name. The bank had granted a loan of Rs 7.18 lakh to one of the accused. We are investigating the case,” said Dhirendra Singh, Senior Sub Inspector (SSI) of the Dauki police station. The Kabis outpost comes under the Dauki police station.