Youth caught smoking weed flees police, tumbles to death from building

A 21-year-old youth allegedly died falling from the third floor of a residential building as he ran from police who found him smoking ganja with his friends near SRS Junction.

The deceased Ravi, a resident of Peenya village, was found smoking up with two of his friends in a secluded spot near SRS Junction around 9 pm on Saturday.

Having learnt that the boys were smoking ganja, beat policemen from the Peenya station went to catch them, but they began running. Local residents said the trio, with police snapping at their heals, climbed the buildings nearby and tried jumping from roof to roof.

Ravi was on the third floor of a building and was trying to jump to the roof of the adjacent building. He slipped and tumbled to the ground. Locals and the beat policemen carried a severely bleeding Ravi to a private hospital near the Yeshwantpur metro station, where the youth succumbed to his injuries at 10 pm on Wednesday.

Peenya police have registered a case of unnatural death based on a complaint filed by Ravi’s mother, Gouramma.

A senior officer said: “Gouramma has not made allegations against anyone. According to her, Ravi was a labourer but was irregular to work. He used to hang around with his friends. The family had caught him smoking up with the friends many times and they had beaten him and warned him to quit the habit.”

Police version

Beat policemen from the Peenya station said they did not chase Ravi but only tried to catch him and his friends. After the trio escaped from the spot, they continued patrolling. But within a couple of minutes, they got to know Ravi had fallen from the building.

“Once the two youths who are on the run are traced, we will get to know their version. If they make any allegations, then an inquiry will be conducted and necessary action will be taken,” a police officer said.

Peenya police said Ravi’s family was unaware that he was smoking weed with his friends. They did not tell them since they were already in pain over his death. But doctors found ganja while performing a blood test during the post-mortem.