Tension prevailed in Mangalhat Police Station area, after a 40-year-old man who was picked up by the Mangalhat police on Saturday morning for questioning died under suspicious circumstances.
Bheem Singh, an electrician, was brought to police station for questioning after his friend Dilip Bharathi filed a complaint against him on Saturday morning.
“Dilip alleged that on Friday night, he had a small tiff with Bheem Singh after which Dilip was beaten up and verbally abused by Bheem. He filed a complaints against him. However, when we brought Bheem for questioning to the police station, he was drunk,” Inspector R Srinivas of Mangalhat Police Station told TNM.
According to the police, they asked Bheem for his Aadhar card to issue notice, when his family member arrived at the police station.
“He went to the bathroom and he locked the door from inside. When he did not come out after a few minutes, we opened the door and found him lying on the floor. We immediately took him to Osmania General Hospital. We thought he was unconscious as he was under the influence of alcohol,” the Inspector added.
The doctors at the hospital reportedly declared him brought dead.
Bheem’s family have alleged that he was beaten up by the police in the station.
“When I returned to the police station with the Aadhaar card, my son told me that he was badly beaten up by the cops. My son died only due to police torture. I want a judicial probe into the death,” the victim’s mother Jayashree told Times of India.
When news of the death came out, locals and BJP MLA Raja Singh gathered outside Mangalhat police station.
“Around 200 people started protesting in front of the police station,” said Inspector Srinivas.
“He called me two-three times when he was in the police station, he told me that the cops are beating him up. He also asked me to send his brother half an hour before he collapsed in the bathroom. The police must have beaten him up, then taken him to the hospital,” alleged Bheem’s wife.
Meanwhile, the police has denied all allegations.
“We did not beat him, he was moving around freely in the police station, we have CCTV footage to show that he was fine here. The family is making false allegations,” the Inspector said.
“They took him to the police station at 11am and he was there till 5pm. The cops are saying that he collapsed in the washroom and died on the way when they were taking him to the hospital. Bheem’s relative are alleging that he was subjected to third degree torture in the cabin of Inspector Srinivas. I demand that the DCP conduct a judicial inquiry in this case. If the police is found guilty, all the cops involved in his death should be suspended,” BJP MLA Raja Singh told media.