Mehsana town in Gujarat remained tense today after the death of a 28-year-old man belonging to Patidar community under mysterious circumstances on Monday, with his kin alleging custodial torture by police.
The state government today directed the Mehsana police to lodge an FIR in the alleged custodial death of Ketan Patel.
Ketan died at the civil hospital in Mehsana on Monday night after he was admitted there following deterioration of his health in the Mehsana sub-jail where he was kept under judicial custody in a theft case.
Members of Patel community today observed a bandh in Mehsana. According to local police, some shop owners were forced to down their shutters by the agitators.
Local police said some peole hurled stones at the municipality building and broke some window panes.
As Mehsana remained the epicentre of the Patel quota stir in 2015, the government has rushed in to prevent any flare up in the wake of the incident.
The decision to order an FIR was taken by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani after holding a meeting with his deputy Nitin Patel and MoS for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja, in Gandhinagar.
While talking to reporters after the meeting, Nitin Patel admitted the postmortem report of Ketan mentioned about injury marks on his body.
"The postmortem report suggested there were injury marks on Ketan's body. Earlier, his family members had demanded registration of an FIR against those responsible for his death. Thus, we have directed the local police to take complaint from any of Ketan's kin and register an FIR without any delay," Patel said.
He said since Ketan was in judicial custody when he died, the Mehsana district and sessions court has directed the chief judicial magistrate to conduct an inquiry.
"Our government will take strict action based on the findings of that report," the deputy chief minister said.
Ketan, a resident of Balol village near Mehsana, was in judicial custody since June 4 in the theft case. He died at the civil hospital on Monday night within hours of admission.
Mehsana taluka police had said that Ketan was arrested on June 3 after a shop owner in Balol village lodged a complaint stating that he stole around Rs 5,000 from his shop.
Though police denied it was a case of custodial death, local Patel leaders and Ketan's family members have alleged that he died due to police torture when he was in their custody before being sent to jail by the court on June 4.
A panel of three doctors which conducted primary postmortem at Mehsana civil hospital has stated in their report that at least 39 injury marks were found on Ketan's body.
The postmortem report has been handed over to Ketan's kin.
Meanwhile, several Congress leaders, including Siddharth Patel and Babu Mangukiya, have rushed to the civil hospital.
Mangukiya alleged despite finding so many injury marks on Ketan's body, the doctors have not mentioned the 'cause of his death' in their report.
"The report said there were 39 injury marks found on Ketan's body. As per the report, these injury marks can be two to three days old. However, doctors have not given the cause of death. There was no reason to not mention that part," Mangukiya told reporters outside the civil hospital.
Meanwhile, Patel quota spearhead Hardik Patel has upped his ante on the issue and warned the government to face consequences if Ketan's family fails to get justice.
"If Ketan's family doesn't get justice, the government will have to face consequences. There will be a reaction to this action. This was indeed a case of custodial death, as Ketan was in jail, where he was under the supervision of police.
"Though I am not allowed to enter Mehsana (as per a court order), I will not hesitate to break the law by entering Mensana if needed. I warn the police to be in their limits. If the situation goes out of control, it will be their responsibility," he stated.
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