Six UP policemen suspended after businessman dies during raid

The police claimed that the man was 'drunk' and fell from his bed during the raid and suffered injuries to his head

Six cops, including a station house office (SHO), have been suspended following the death of a real estate dealer during a raid in Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath's hometown of Gorakhpur. Sourced informed DH that a case of murder has been registered against three policemen.

Manish Gupta, a Kanpur-based real estate dealer, suffered serious injuries after around six cops barged into a hotel room — where he was staying along with two friends late on Monday night — and allegedly assaulted him. The police claimed that Gupta was 'drunk' and fell from his bed during the raid and suffered injuries to his head. He was rushed to the hospital but was declared brought dead by the doctors.

''The police were checking hotels after getting information that some suspicious people were staying at one of the hotels....during the raid, Gupta fell from his bed and was hit on the head by some object....he died later,'' said a senior police official in Gorakhpur.

Gupta's friends, however, contested the police's claims and said the cops hit Gupta several times even after showing their IDs and other papers. ''We are not terrorists....why are you (police) treating us like this?", Gupta's friend quoted him as having told the cops. The friend said that the Gupta's remarks enraged the cops and in response allegedly thrashed the real estate agent, brutally inflicting serious injuries on his head after which he soon succumbed to injuries.

As the issue snowballed after the local media reported about the incident, the government suspended six police personnel and a case of murder was lodged against three cops. An ex-gratia compensation of Rs 10 lakh was also announced for the next of kin of the deceased.

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav condemned the incident and said that the ''encounter culture'' in the state was responsible for it. ''It is the result of the encounter culture, which is a gift from the BJP government in the state,'' he said. Akhilesh also demanded Chief Minister Adityanath's for ''pushing'' the state into such a situation.

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