AGRA: The family of 55-year-old Sageer Khan, a resident of Aligarh’s Jamunka village in Chandos, in a video circulated on social media on Saturday accused police of "beating him to death while in custody". But, hours later they retracted from their statement and instead lodged a police complaint against their relatives accusing them of killing Khan. Police denied the allegations.
In the purported video, Khan’s son Nasir made serious allegations that his father was brutally beaten up and tortured by police and was not even provided drinking water, though he begged for it. Nasir claimed that police have sent the body for postmortem without informing the family.
Police, however, claimed that Khan was involved in a clash that took place between his sons and their in-laws, and when they reached his house -- where the "brawl" happened – he tried to flee. Police claimed that when they caught Khan, he fainted, and was immediately taken to a community health centre where he was declared "brought dead".
In a video statement, SSP Kalanidhi Naithani claimed that Nasir had given a police complaint saying his father was injured during a clash between him and his in-laws. An FIR has been registered against six people under IPC sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 452 (house trespass for causing hurt, assault) and 147 (rioting) at Chandos police station, Naithani said, adding that five accused have been arrested.
The SSP said a departmental inquiry has been marked against the team of policemen who visited the Khan’s house, due to the serious allegations against them. Postmortem will be conducted by a panel of doctors, he added.
Earlier, the SSP said there was a dispute in Khan’s family. "His son was married to a woman from Bulandshahr and his in-laws had visited them after a fight took place between the couple. Local police had reached the spot only after being informed about the clash," he added.
