Man dead in police custody, alleges protesting family

New Delhi, July 2 : A Delhi youth arrested in a theft case was killed in police custody, angry family members of the deceased alleged as they blocked vehicular movement in south Delhi and kept the body on the road demanding punishment to the accused cops.

However, police denied the allegation saying the 26-year-old man jumped off a court's third floor in Chandigarh where he had allegedly stolen Rs.500,000 after breaking open a car.

Around 150 friends and family members of the deceased, refusing to cremate the body, jammed vehicular movement on the BRT corridor in south Delhi for two hours as the body was kept in the middle of the road.

The police baton charged to disperse the protestors, who were shouting slogans against Delhi Police.

The deceased, Raj, who is survived by his wife and three children, worked as a street vendor in the Madangir area.

Raja's wife Santosh alleged that Delhi Police arrested her husband and his nephew Sunny, 20, for the Chandigarh theft case. Police had claimed recovering Rs.400,000 from them.

'They took Sunny and my husband to Chandigarh to produce them before a court Tuesday. They said my husband in an attempt to flee jumped from the court's third floor. The police handed over his body to us Wednesday,' she said.

'The injury marks are visible on my husband's body and he has been beaten to death by police. Constable Pramjeet was trying to frame him in a case as he was having some personal enmity against him,' she added.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast Delhi) Shalini Singh could not be reached for comments despite many efforts.

--IANS