Arrested by the Godhra B Division police station on Wednesday, 15 September, for 'transporting cow meat', Qasim Abdullah Hayat hanged himself in jail the next day, before he could be produced in front of the magistrate.
The suicide of the 32-year-old man was captured in the CCTV footage, Panchmahals district police said, The Indian Express reported.
Speaking to the news organisation, Panchmahal district Superintendent of Police Leena Patil said that Hayat's medical reports are under preparation.
She stated,
"The FIR was filed on Wednesday at 7.45 pm and the accused died inside the lock-up at around 3.20 am this morning. We have the CCTV footage, in which he is seen tearing up the bedsheet and hanging himself by the gate of the lock-up. It was a partial hanging. We have initiated the medical procedures, accordingly to prepare a report."Leena Patil, as per The Indian Express
In a statement, the deceased's relative said that he had visited Hayat at the police station.
"He told me that the police beat him up and were forcing him to confess that he was carrying beef. He told me to tell his brother to seek help for him."Qasim Abdullah Hayat's relative, as per The Indian Express
The relative went on to say that when he visited the police station next morning, no one told him Hayat had died, and the police forbade him from entering, The Indian Express reported.
"Someone from the police station told us that he was tortured the previous night," the relative added.
Patil denied these allegations and said, "The Executive Magistrate and Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) conducted inquest and the body was sent for a panel post mortem at SSG Hospital."
What Had Happened
As per the First Information Report (FIR), Hayat's two-wheeled vehicle was stopped on the way from Sevaliya to Godhra, after the police received a tip-off that he was carrying cow meat, The Indian Express reported.
Upon inspection, the police found that Hayat, who was a resident of Godhra's Idgah Mohalla, was carrying animal meat.
The FIR stated, “The luggage compartment of the two-wheeler had more meat, including portions of limbs and a tongue," The Indian Express reported.
However, the accused said in a statement that he was carrying mutton procured from a butcher to deliver to five people in Idgah mohalla.
Solely on "suspicion that the tongue was possibly from cow slaughter", the police confiscated his vehicle, The Indian Express reported.
After the Surat Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) confirmed it was cow meat, the seven accused – the five who had ordered the meat as well as the butcher – were booked under the Indian Penal Code Section 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle), Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 2017 and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 Section 11, The Indian Express reported.
(With inputs from The Indian Express.)
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