A case has been registered against officers at Cyber Cell Faridabad related to the custodial death of a Muslim man from Rajasthan’s Alwar district.
Based on the complaint by the victim’s brother, Sabir Khan, police had mistakenly arrested his brother and demanded money to release him.
On July 20, Sabir Khan received a call that his brother Saikul Khan (27), a resident of Tikri Village in Rajasthan’s Alwar district has been arrested. Khan says his brother was mistaken for one Govind, an accused of cyber fraud who lives in the same village.
Yet the police didn’t release him but instead asked Sabir Khan to find Govid for them to free his brother.
Saikul Khan was picked up from Chidwai in Alwar on the Mumbai Expressway and taken to Faridabad on July 19. He endured custodial torture since he was detained.
Upon reaching the police station Sabir and his cousin Hoshiar, the Sub-Inspector (SI) Rajesh Kumar allegedly demanded 2 lakh rupees to free Saikul. Both settled at 1 lakh 65 thousand rupees.
On July 21, the amount was handed over to Sub Inspector Rajesh, in the presence of Inspector Bhajan Lal, Central Investigation Agency officer, Palwal, Sabir told Maktoob.
However, they didn’t hand over Saikul to his brothers as Inspector Rajesh said that they will release him after the treatment and recovery as he got injured during the investigation.
On July 23, Saikul’s family received a call again from the station informing them that Saikul is admitted to the BK Hospital in Faridabad. Upon reaching the hospital Saikul was found dead in the hospital.
“When we received the dead body it has serious injury marks on the entire body, especially on his neck and nose, it seemed that before dying his nose was bleeding profusely,” Sabir said.
“Our brother is now gone, killed by the police”, he said. “Ab samjh ni arha hai aa raha kya kare (We don’t know what to do now).
He said, “He was abducted by the cyber police on his way home in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, as the place mentioned of his arrest by the police comes in the way of his home.”
“We were not informed about his arrest till 18 hours and then they told us that his arrest was a case of mistaken identity. The police officers assured us that they would release him after the recovery in 2-3 days, but here we are, we got his dead body,” he further said.
Police denied the family’s allegation that Shaikul was picked up mistakenly.
After he discovered that Saikul is no more, he tried to contact the police officer Rajesh who received money but he was not found in the police station and his number was unreachable.
Sher Mohammed, president of the Mewati community and an activist in the village, has demanded justice for Saikul and his bereaved family. He met senior officials and the magistrate to make sure that the bereaved family’s complaint is registered and that a proper investigation should be done in the case.
Mohammed informed Maktoob, “The police officer who took the bribe has been suspended but the suspension is not enough punishment as the young man has lost his life. If he was mistakenly arrested, it was the police’s responsibility to correct their mistake, but he was killed in custody.”
On July 24, Sabir filed a complaint at Old Faridabad Police Station under sections 302 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 against SI Rajesh Kumar and Inspector Bashant Kumar accusing them of Saikul Khan’s custodial death.
Saikul was preparing for various competitive exams and was enrolled in a coaching institute in Vijay Nagar and was staying in a hostel. He used to visit his family once in a while, weekly or fortnightly.
Three months ago, he got married. His wife is still not being able to fathom the reality that everyone was calling her his bride until a few days ago, and now she is left as his widow.
