An inquiry has been ordered against 14 police officers in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur for falsely implicating a Dalit man.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP), South, Manish Sonkar, who is conducting the investigation, said that officers from Kanpur's Police Line had registered a false case of theft against a Dalit man named Mahadev.
The alleged role of station house officer (SHO) Dinanath Mishra of Barra police station, and assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Vikas Pandey of Govind Nagar will also be investigated, the police added.
Background
Mahadev, a resident of the Yadav Market Chowki area of Kanpur, had made a deal regarding the sale of his house with a man named Umrao for Rs 35 lakh.
It was alleged that Umrao got the house registered after paying only Rs 10 lakh, and did not give Mahadev the entire amount, leading to the latter refusing to give possession of the house.
On 15 January this year, Mahadev alleged that Umrao and some of his associates entered his house through the roof and beat up his entire family, adding that the alleged perpetrators also snatched their mobile phones.
After the incident, Mahadev lodged a case at the Barra police station under several sections, including robbery and AC/ST. However, he said that the police refused to take action and, on 23 February, helped Umrao occupy his house instead.
In fact, the police registered a false case of theft against Mahadev.
Police Investigation
Sonkar's investigation into the matter revealed that ACP Vikas Pandey and SHO Dinanath Mishra along with market outpost in-charge Ashish Kumar Mishra were equally complicit in the matter.
Since Mahadev had filed a case under the sections of AC/ST, Sonkar said Mishra should have sent the report to higher officials. However, since he was hand-in-glove with Umrao and his associates, he suppressed the matter.
Sonkar also said that Pandey removed the section of robbery from the FIR, after a video of the incident came to light.
Deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Kanpur, Raveena Tyagi, said that an interim report regarding the incident had been received from the ADCP, on the basis of which the 14 accused police personnel had been placed on line to ensure that the investigation could be conducted in an impartial manner.
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