Bengaluru riots: Death toll rises to 4 as man dies of tear gas shell wound

Bengaluru riots: Death toll rises to 4 even as cops tighten probe

The death toll in the August 11 riots has risen to four, with another man succumbing on Saturday. The deceased had suffered a stomach injury when police fired tear gas shells in DJ Halli, Northeast Bengaluru. He also tested positive for Covid-19.

KG Halli resident Syed Nadeem, 24, was in judicial custody when he breathed his last at Bowring hospital. A tear gas shell fired by cops outside the DJ Halli police station hit him in the stomach, according to police. Nadeem, however, escaped from the police that day and took treatment at the Ambedkar hospital.

Police picked him up the next day on the suspicion that he was involved in the riot but chose not to seek his custodial interrogation after it emerged that he wasn’t a conspirator or instigator but was just a member of the protesting crowd. A court subsequently remanded him in judicial custody, said Hemant Nimbalkar, Additional Commissioner of Police (Administration).

On Friday morning, Nadeem complained to prison authorities about pain in the injured part of his body. He was initially treated at the prison hospital before being wheeled to the government hospital in Jayanagar. He was eventually shifted to the Bowring hospital where he died on Saturday evening.

Nimbalkar said Nadeem had complained of chest pain, stomach pain and breathlessness. He was taken to Bowring hospital where doctors operated upon him. He had suffered a blunt injury (different from a bullet injury) and was kept under medical observation. He later tested positive for Covid-19 and did not respond to postoperative treatment due to subsequent complications, Nimbalkar added.

According to S D Sharanappa, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), Nadeem had tested negative before being sent to judicial custody. He was tested again before the surgery, and the result came back positive, added.

Police claimed that Nadeem had neither disclosed the injury at the time of his arrest nor himself took it seriously.

However, since he died in custody, a magisterial inquiry will be held.