Police needed to police Mathura police!

Darpan Singh, Agra

The Mathura police, it seems, have refused to learn any lesson from its mistakes. Already under fire for groping in dark and poor handling of the sensational Tripti Khandelwal murder case, here comes another blunder. This time, the Mathura police, while probing a murder case, ended up using third degree against the complainants, while hardly making any effort to nab the real culprit(s). The condition of one complainant, a minority youth, deteriorated allegedly due to excessive torture and he feinted. The SSP has suspended two cops, including the SHO of Mathura Kotwali, in this connection.

Police sources said one Rahis was strangulated to death on the night of June 22 last at a place under Kotwali police station. His body was recovered at Balmiki locality in front of Kishore Raman Inter College. Anis, the deceased’s brother, lodged a case against unidentified persons in this connection. However, police suspected the involvement of the deceased’s family members in his murder and summoned all of them for questioning. Police detained two brothers of the deceased — Anis and Bablu — and two relatives for four days. However, the family believed Rahis was killed over a monetary dispute.

On Saturday night, police took Anis to a hotel, while Bablu was taken to Bengali Ghat police outpost. Both were allegedly thrashed to confess to their involvement. Sources said Bablu was subjected to third degree torture and when his condition deteriorated, the cops, instead of taking him to hospital, allegedly dumped him in the Kotwali. When the family reached Kotwali on Sunday morning, it found Bablu lying in an unconscious state. The enraged family members created a ruckus to protest the torture. A top cop told ht on Monday, "Police have arranged for Bablu's treatment." The officer admitted that Anis’s body also bore injury marks.

Incidentally, the Mathura police, which received flak for faulty examination of the crime scene in the Tripti Khandelwal murder case, are yet to make any breakthrough. More than a week ago, Tripti Khandelwal (28), wife of trader Ravi Khandelwal, was found murdered inside her residence (C-12) in the posh Radhapuram locality under the Highway police station of Mathura. The body was recovered from a divan. Incidentally, when the recovery was made, cops were busy conducting raids outside on being informed that Tripti was missing with her house locked from outside. Earlier in the day, the cops sat on the same divan in which the body had been kept a good 5-6 hours ago