Singtam, January 2: A 20 year old boy was found dead outside an electronic shop in East Sikkim’s Singtam area, just a few hours after he was allegedly picked up by the Singtam police on the night of January 1. Sujit Pandey, son of businessman Balaram Pandey, a resident of Singtam, was detained by the police for being involved in a minor quarrel in one of the hotels in Singtam town. The issue is suspected to be one of police brutality and custodial death, even as the deceased’s family says that their son was thrashed while in police custody. Also Read - Amid Border Tensions, Indian Army Rescues 3 Chinese Citizens Who Lost Their Way in Sikkim, Provides Them With Food, Warm Clothes

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According to a report in the Voice of Sikkim, the public was enraged by the death of the boy and they gheraoed the station and vandalized it by pelting stones. Patel’s family claimed that the police severely thrashed him while he was in custody and demanded that they release the CCTV footage of their son’s custody. The family also questioned as to why they were not informed that their son was in police custody for an entire night. Later, due to the public pressure, the video was shown to the family and agitators demanded that the policemen involved be suspended. Also Read: Did Dalit teenager died in custody or was it a suicide? doubts linger, SIT probe ordered Also Read - School Reopening News: Faculty Members, Heads of Educational Institutes Asked to Join Duty From Sept 1 in Sikkim

The police admitted the lapse and agreed to take action against policemen who had assaulted the boy. Police authorities asked for 15 days’ time to take action. But the unrelenting crowd kept on vandalising police property including their vehicles and the personnel were forced to lathicharge on the angry mob. Tear gas was also used to disperse the crowd and section 144 of CrPc (Unlawful Assembly) has been applied in the area.

The family of the deceased and their supporters have refused to move the dead boy unless action is taken against errant police men. Apparently, this is not the first incident of custodial death reported from the police station. A similar case was reported from the same police station, on November 9, 2007.

(Picture Credit: The Voice of Sikkim)