Jharkhand man found dead last month was lynched: Police

A Jharkhand man found dead in KR Puram, East Bengaluru, on September 24 was allegedly lynched by residents on suspicion of being a child lifter. Police arrested three suspects after registering a case of murder on October 6. The man was alleged to have died in police custody but cops denied this.

It took the police almost a week to establish that the deceased was Sanjay Tudu, 27, who worked as a mason under a supervisor named Shivanna in Devasandra.

The confusion partly arose because Tudu was first picked up by Ramamurthy Nagar police on the night of September 23 while he was found dead by the KR Puram police.

Locals in Dargah Mohalla, Vijinapura, had thrashed Tudu as they found him moving “suspiciously” in a drunken stupor. A Hoysala patrol car later took him to the Ramamurthy Nagar police station.

The next day, Tudu was found dead near ITI College in KR Puram police station limits. Alleging that the man had died in police custody, Paramesh V, a social activist, wrote to the chief minister, the chief justice of the high court and other authorities, demanding a murder FIR against the police.

Police denied the allegation. Speaking to news reporters, Girish S, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Whitefield), said they had registered a case of unnatural death because there were no external injuries on the body and the victim’s identity was also not established. The KR Puram police station comes under the Whitefield division while the Ramamurthy Nagar police station falls under the eastern division.

Police established Tudu’s identity only on September 30 after speaking to his wife, Rimu Mumar, who is presently in Poraiyahat, Jharkhand. She was shown his picture on WhatsApp. Police got the post-mortem done at East Point College of Medical Sciences on October 3 after Rimu said she was too broke to travel to Bengaluru. The autopsy report, which arrived on October 6, stated that death occurred due to multiple injuries.

Investigations showed that Tudu was thrashed by residents in Jyothipura and Dargah Mohalla, both in Ramamurthy Nagar. While senior police officers were tight-lipped about why Tudu was attacked, sources said residents suspected that he was a child lifter.

Going by the autopsy report and available evidence, the KR Puram police converted the unnatural death case into a murder investigation.

They have arrested Parthiban, Syed Khaja and Fayaz Pasha, all from Ramamurthy Nagar. Other suspects are absconding, police said.