Uttara Kannada, June. 26: Five police personnel were suspended on Sunday after a man committed suicide in police custody at Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district, officials said. According to officials, a man was brought to Honnavar police station for questioning in a theft case.
The deceased, aged 35, hailed from Bihar and had come to the state with his father to earn a living. Both were involved in polishing gold jewellery. He was brought for trial in a theft case, during which he reportedly committed suicide by consuming cyanide.
During the investigation into the case of theft of gold jewelery in the Salehittala house of Honnavar town, a complaint was received from the public that the deceased and his father were trying to cheat people by saying that they would give gold jewellery. Therefore, the police said that they have brought him for questioning based on the complaint.
During the interrogation, the accused tried to commit suicide by consuming cyanide which was brought in a bag for drinking water. Later, he was rushed to the hospital, but the treatment failed, but he died, police said. When the incident came to light, Mangalore IGP Chandragupta visited the place and conducted an investigation.
Later, Honnavar circle inspector Manjunath, sub-inspector Manjeshwar Chandavar, police constables Santosh, Ramesh Lambani and Mahaveer have been suspended. The dead body was kept in the Honnavar Taluk Hospital mortuary and a post mortem was conducted on Sunday evening. Human Rights Commission, CID officials are likely to arrive to investigate the case.
Uttara Kannada SP N Vishnuvardhana said, “The deceased and his father were called to the police station for questioning. During questioning, the deceased pleaded that he was thirsty and wanted water. He swallowed cyanide while drinking water. The police immediately rushed him to the hospital but he did not survive.”
Uttara Kannada SP N Vishnuvardhana said the deceased has been charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 420 (cheating) and was cheating people on the pretext of polishing gold jewellery.
“We are awaiting the order of the state government to hand over the case to the CID as per procedure. A case has been registered against the three policemen under Sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 342 (false arrest) of the IPC. Further investigation is underway,” he said.
