Hyderabad: On Friday, a day after 17-year-old S. Tarun Yadav ended his life at Mirzalguda alleging police harassment, the city police initiated an inquiry against the police officers, including the Lallaguda station house officer and a sub inspector.
Though not all the allegations made by the victim’s family have been proven to be right, senior officials said prima facie, the detention of youngsters by the Lallaguda cops for a petty case was uncalled for. The official inquiry will be conducted by North Zone deputy commissioner N. Prakash Reddy.
Tarun, a tele-caller operator in a private company, hanged himself in his house soon after he was released by the Lallaguda police, who had detained him following a complaint from his friend.
Tarun and his friend Sandeep were accused of snatching a phone and a tablet from their friend Susheel Kumar alias Nani. During the detention, cops allegedly beat up Tarun and tried to extort money from him. Though Susheel wanted to withdraw the complaint, the cops were adamant and went ahead with registering it.
While the police has denied the allegations of extortion and corporal punishment, a preliminary inquiry found the youngsters were kept in the police station for a long time without any strong reason.
“It was a petty case against the youths, but they were kept in the station from afternoon till night. We are verifying why so,” said DCP Prakash Reddy.
Lallaguda inspector R. Karan Kumar Singh, who was handling the case, has come under scrutiny for the detention. A few other officials who allegedly beat up the victim are under the scanner too.
Meanwhile, the Malkajgiri police, investigating the suicide case of Tarun, is still treating the case as one of suspicious death. A charge for ‘abetment to suicide’ is yet to be added to the case despite the victim’s family members giving a written complaint against the Lallaguda cops.
Tarun’s friend attempts suicide
A friend of Tarun Yadav, who committed suicide on Thursday following alleged police harassment, also tried to kill himself after he found out that his name had surfaced in the media following Tarun’s death.
The 17-year-old youth, who had been with Tarun, Susheel Kumar and Sandeep when the mobile snatching incident occurred, was named by a prominent Telugu TV channel. On Friday morning, he drank cleaning agent in his washroom and collapsed. He was rushed to the Gandhi Hospital where his condition is stable and doctors said he would be released after being kept under observation for 48 hours.
Talking about the incident, the youngster Ramesh (name changed), said that he was not taken to the police station on Wednesday along with Tarun, but he was depressed about his friend’s death and with the media reports, which named him. Meanwhile, a few people, including local politicians, allegedly asked Ramesh to testify against the police.
There is already widespread resentment against the Lallaguda police and a few people apparently want to highlight the alleged police brutality issue in Ramesh’s suicide attempt. The police have procured a sound clip of a freelance journalist’s conversation with the youngster, trying to persuade him to speak against the cops.
However, Ramesh said that he was never called or detained by the police and it was his depression that prompted him to attempt suicide. No police case has been registered on the issue so far since there has been no complaints made by the youngster and his family.
According to Ramesh, on Tuesday night, Tarun and Sandeep had beat up Susheel Kumar and snatched his phone and tablet. Ramesh had tried to stop them, but in vain. After the fight, Ramesh had helped Susheel get home. Since Ramesh was not mentioned in the police complaint lodged by Susheel, the police did not call him to the station.
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