Three police officials have been suspended in Bihar after a jewellery store worker was thrashed in custody and petrol was poured on his private parts allegedly to force a theft confession.
The man, along with two of his colleagues, was detained over charges of theft of 60 grams of gold from a jewellery shop in Samastipur in December.
He was later released due to a lack of evidence of his involvement. Upon returning home after four days in police custody, his health deteriorated and he is now in a critical condition.
The owner of the store where the theft had occurred had also thrashed the man and other employees and threatened to throw them off from the roof before they were taken into custody by the police on December 31.
In police custody for four days, he alleged he was repeatedly assaulted and petrol was poured on his private parts. As his condition worsened, he was released on bond on January 5.
The police have also been accused of demanding a bribe to release him.
His mother claimed that he was being framed and that even she and her husband were detained at the Tajpur police station for three days. The cops demanded Rs 50,000 to release his family members, he alleged.
During this time, his house was also searched, but no jewellery was found. Despite that, the police kept thrashing him and forcing him to confess, the man alleged.
Acting over the allegations, Superintendent of Police (SP) Arvind Pratap Singh suspended three officials, including the station in-charge. The suspended officials include Station in-charge Shankar Sharan Das, Rajvansh Kumar, and Rahul Kumar.
(With inputs by Avinash Kumar)
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