INDORE: Madhya Pradesh recorded the third highest number of deaths in police custody, including those in police remand and of persons not on remand, as per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report released on Wednesday.
The data did not include deaths in judicial remand.
While the highest number of custodial deaths were reported in Gujarat and second in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu were in the third position with six deaths.
The major reasons behind the deaths in the state were suicide and deaths due to illness among others. Of the six deaths, three killed themselves in police custody, one died of illness and two of other reasons.
In these cases, four judicial and two magisterial probes were carried out in the state. MP also reported the second highest number of escapes from police custody after Maharashtra in the country. In all, 69 cases of escape from police custody were reported in Madhya Pradesh, which was second highest as compared to 88 cases registered in Maharashtra. In 69 cases, a total of 92 people escaped, of which 14 escaped from lockup and 78 from outside the lockup. The data revealed that of the escapees, 79 people were re-arrested, whereas 15 are still absconding.
On Tuesday, a 20-year-old man arrested for bike theft died in police custody in Khandwa district in the early hours, prompting the state government to suspend four police personnel, including the police station in-charge, and order a judicial probe. This is the second custodial death in the state in a week.
