PM report nails police lie

MUMBAI, July 14: If the D N Nagar police are indeed telling the truth, the Mumbai police would have to open an X-File. The death by self-...

MUMBAI, July 14: If the D N Nagar police are indeed telling the truth, the Mumbai police would have to open an X-File. The death by self-strangulation that the local police claim occurred in their lock-up on Tuesday night was not suicide, the post-mortem report suggests. Instead, some marks on the body indicate that Farrokh Patni could have been beaten to death.

Hard-pressed to explain how Patni, arrested under Section 336 of the Indian Penal Code for assault on July 6, died in their custody, the D N Nagar police say he strangled himself with his shirt-sleeve. The post-mortem, though, says there are no ligature marks around the man’s neck.

Patni’s death in the lock-up has evoked disbelief and anger among his relatives, who allege that the police had thrashed him to death. The 30-year-old resident of Kapaswadi, Andheri (W), was picked up following a clash between two groups in the neighbourhood and remanded to police custody till July 17.

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However Hanif Patni, brother of the deceased, claims Farrokh hadplayed no role in the scuffle. Moreover, after arresting him, police also thrashed him in their interrogation room, he says.

Fazal Kazi, a cousin of the deceased, says Farrokh would beg him to get him released on bail as he was unable to bear the torture late at night. “But we are poor and did not have the money even to pay the bail amount,” he told Express Newsline.

On Tuesday evening, police summoned Farrokh’s mother to the police station and began to ask her some strange questions, Hanif reveals. “They asked her whether Farrokh was suffering from any disease and if he was a drug addict.

They were probably looking for something that they could later cite as the cause of death. After that, they told her that her son had died in police custody,” Hanif adds.

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The post-mortem report, prepared at Cooper Hospital, indicates a black eye and a small depression in the abdomen region. Both could have been sustained during custody. Sources in the hospital say there are no ligature marks around theneck or anything to indicate that he died of self-strangulation.

However, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone VII), Rajendra Singh, insists that the body was found with the shirt-sleeve around the neck. “It even had a knot in it,” he told Express Newsline.

Singh claims that Farrokh had been beaten by the public before he was arrested, which could explain the other marks on the body. The cause of death will be known only after the post-mortem report is available, and a detailed investigation is carried out by the Crime Branch, he says.

But Farrokh’s family is far from convinced. They say they are prepared to approach the National Human Rights Commission, if necessary.