Nine Gujarat cops booked in custodial death case

AHMEDABAD: Nine policemen have been booked in connection with a case of an alleged custodial death of a thief here, police said today.

"We have registered a criminal case against nine policemen, including a police sub-inspector, in the suspicious death of Raju alias Kanti Thakkar, whose body was found lying on Sabarmati river bed yesterday," Sardarnagar police station Inspector Vanraj Sarvaiyya told PTI.

Thakkar, a small-time thief, was taken into custody on Wednesday for interrogation by Sardarnagar police from a gambling den in Sarangpur area and handed over to Sector II police surveillance squad, police said.

"He was kept in custody at Ajit Mills police chowky, which comes under Rakhial police, for a day," sources said.

Yesterday, the City Police Control room received a phone call from a man, who gave his name as Vithhal Pattani, informing about a body lying on the Sabarmati river bed near Hansol.

Sardarnagar police later identified the deceased as Raju Thakkar, police said.

Today, after getting information about Thakkar, his wife Asha rushed to the Sardarnagar police station with his advocate and relatives and alleged that his husband had died in police custody.

"He was detained by police while he was gambling. But no case or entry has been registered against him. And now he is dead. Police have tortured him to death," Asha alleged while talking to media.

"We have registered a case against nine policemen under sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 114 (abettor present when offence committed) of Indian Penal Code(IPC)," said Sarvaiyya.