Three police personnel were suspended in Madhya Pradesh's Dewas on Tuesday, 30 August, after a spice vendor allegedly died due to beating in police custody in the district.
The deceased, Mukesh Chhad, and his brother-in-law Kishor were taken into custody by the police on 27 August when they had been visiting Dewas to sell spices. The family of the two local spice merchants, who are residents of Hiranagar, has alleged that the police thrashed the men without providing any reason and later demanded money in exchange of freeing them.
"They (police) picked us up and took us to the police station at 12 pm on Saturday, when we had come here to sell mirchi, dhaniya, haldi. They put me and my brother-in-law in lock-up. They asked us about our spices, where we procure them, what they are. In the evening, four policemen beat us. They wanted money. My brother-in-law died as he was badly beaten by police. He had no illness."Kishor, brother-in-law of Mukesh
Mukesh died after coming home from the police station, as per his family.
City Superintendent of Police (CSP) of Dewas Vivek Singh Chouhan had earlier claimed the police had registered a case against a relative of Chhad for allegedly manufacturing spurious ghee and beedis. Chhad was brought to the police station for questioning on suspicion of being involved in the crime, he said.
Refuting the family's allegations of bribery, Chauhan said that the deceased was a patient of epilepsy and he was handed over to his family as his health deteriorated.
On Tuesday, Dewas Superintendent Shiv Dayal Singh suspended three police personnel of industrial area police station – ASI Devendra Chauhan, head constable Satish Sikarwar, and constable Vikas Patel.
He said that the incident was being probed, and that the body of the deceased had been sent for post-mortem.
On Saturday, a right-wing mob had allegedly vandalised a mosque, raised anti-Muslim slogans, and pelted stones at the home of a Muslim man who had reportedly eloped with a Dalit woman in Dewas.
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