SC youth dies in police custody, family alleges torture; Cop suspended

A youth belonging to the scheduled caste (SC), on Monday, died in police custody allegedly owing to torture in Uttar Pradesh's Raebareli district, about 80 kilometres from here.

While the family members of the youth alleged that he was brutally thrashed by belts and sticks by the cops, the latter denied the allegations.

The cops claimed that the deceased suffered from pneumonia and also had a temperature.

Police sources said that the youth, identified as Mohit Kumar, a resident of Pure Baiju village in the district, had been picked up by the cops on suspicion of being a member of a gang, which was involved in stealing motorbikes.

Sources said that Mohit complained of pain in the stomach and breathlessness after which he was admitted to the district hospital on Saturday. He died there on Sunday.

An irate mob later blocked traffic on the main road connecting Raebareli, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and Fatehpur districts in protest against the incident.

Sources said that the in-charge of the police station had been suspended and a probe was ordered into the incident. ''We are investigating the matter,'' said a senior police official in Raebareli.

UP Congress president Ajai Kumar Lalloo accused the state police of ''persecuting the Dalits''. ''Dalits have been facing discrimination under the present dispensation....instead of giving them justice, the police are killing the Dalits,'' Lalloo said.

The Yogi Adityanath government has been under attack from the opposition and Dalit organisations over the alleged killing of the members of the community in the state in the past few months.