Gujarat: After seven months, six cops booked for torturing Telangana man to death

Seven months after the disappearance of a 62-year-old man, the Vadodara police has booked six policemen including a police inspector for allegedly killing the man, originally from Telangana, in illegal custody.

The FIR registered on Monday evening alleges that the man identified as Babu Nasir Shaikh was subjected to brutal thrashing in order to extract confession from him that led to his death. After he died at the police station, the accused policemen "disposed" of the body, which has not been found as yet, and destroyed other evidence.

A senior police officer said that an application is being filed in court to get permission for narco test of all the six policemen, who are denying allegations, to get clues of the dead body. According to the FIR, Shaikh had gone missing on December 10, 2019. After the family members failed to find him, Shaikh's son-in-law Ibrahim Pathan lodged a missing complaint on January 31, 2020 at Sayajigunj police station.

The FIR states that Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), A, Division, Vadodara city police, P H Bhesaniya was asked to inquire into the case after a "secret" information was received that reportedly said "some incident with Shaikh" had happened at Fatehgunj police station.The city police commissioner Anupam Singh Gehlot told DH that two teams were formed to trace Shaikh and what exactly happened with him at Fatehgunj police station. "Our teams had been searching the victim everywhere and were supposed to visit Hyderabad to meet the victim's family but it was then that lockdown was announced that restricted the travelling."

The other team led by ACP S G Patil was investigating the secret information on Shaikh's presence at Fatehgunj police station. The FIR states that Patil's investigation found that Shaikh was picked up by a surveillance team of Fatehgunj police and was brought to station as a suspect in a theft case. It says that the accused police inspector D B Gohil interrogated and tortured Shaikh. It alleges "Shaikh, who was tied to a chair in a way that he couldn't move, was beaten up, tortured by squeezing pen between his fingers and pressed hard to hurt him, he was bleeding." The FIR says that Shaikh kept crying in pain telling the interrogators that he had done nothing wrong.

According to the FIR, these details have been narrated by at least three police witnesses, who were posted at the same police station, a private witness who was called at the police station by the accused to lodge an FIR related to an attempt of theft at his house and he saw Shaikh lying lifeless at the chair. The investigating officer is said to have obtained CCTV footage of the police station that reveals Shaikh being brought to the police station but the record of Shaikh's exit from the station hasn't been found. Sources said that the CCTV camera was allegedly switched off by accused policemen.

"We have witnesses and several circumstantial evidence revealing what happened with Shaikh. There is evidence of accused policemen destroying documents such as tearing FIR copy after the death of Shaikh. We are trying to trace the dead body. Since the suspect policemen are denying charges, we are going to seek permission from the court for their narco test," Vadodara Police Commissioner Gehlot told DH.

The accused policemen have been identified as Police Inspector Dharmendrasinh B Gohil, Sub-Inspector D M Rabari and four Lok Rakshak Dal constables-Pankaj Mavjibhai, Yogendrasinh Jilansinh, Rajeshbhai Savjibhai and Hiteshbhai Shambhubhai. Gohil and Rabari were recently transferred to Ahmedabad after the inquiry was initiated. Meanwhile, the family members of Shaikh have also filed a habeas corpus petition in the high court which is pending.

They have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder (IPC 304), destruction of evidence (IPC 201), acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention (IPC 34), among other charges.