Ketan Patel

AHMEDABAD: Death of a Patidar man, who was arrested in a theft case, sparked massive outrage within the community in Mehsana on Tuesday with family members alleging that he died due to severe thrashing by cops in custody.

Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti ( PAAS ) has called for Mehsana bandh on Wednesday.

Ketan Patel , 30, was arrested on Saturday in a case of Rs 9,500 theft by the J-division police station in the town. Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Varun Patel , however, said that Ketan was arrested on Thursday for a theft of Rs 500. As many as 500 Patidars gathered at the civil hospital and the family has refused to accept his body on Tuesday unless an offence is registered in the case.

Police officials, however, dismissed the allegations and said that Patel was running high fever and died in Mehsana sub-jail.

“We arrested Ketan on Saturday in for theft of Rs 9,500 from a paan shop. We also have CCTV footage that show him stealing some va luables. We had acted on the basis of complaint filed by shop owner Bharat Barot. On Sunday, we produced him before a judicial magistrate who ordered that he be sent to judicial custody.

On Mon day, he started complaining of uneasiness in the sub-jail. A doctor who checked him found that Patel was feeling uneasy as he was an alcoholic. He was then referred to Mehsana civil hospi tal where in he died during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday,“ said Chaitanya Mandlik, Mehsana superintendent of police.

“But as it is a case of custodial death, a judicial inquiry will be conduc ted and his post-mortem will be done by a medical bo ard (panel of s) which will be vide doctors) which will be videographed too. Besides, I have also directed investigation by deputy superintendent of police (DySP) Visnagar, Harish Patel, to probe the case,“ Mandlik added. Varun Patel alleged that he Ketan beaten to death and branded with cigarettes and iron rod, marks of which are apparent on his body.

When asked about injury injury on Patel's body, Mandlik said, “The marks are of blood clotting due to rigor mortis. Such marks are seen on a body as 14 to 15 hours have passed after his death.“ Mandlik said that the reason behind death will be known after postmortem report comes.

“We will not spare anyone whether he is from police department or anyone else found guilty in the case,“ he said.

The Gujarat Congress has demanded the resignation of Pradipsinh Jadeja, minister of state (MoS) for Home, over the custodial death of a Patidar youth in Mehsana, the constituency of Nitin Patel, the deputy CM. Himanshu Patel, state Congress spokesperson and senior Congress leader, demanded Rs 25 lakh compensation for the family of the Patidar youth and demanded action against the police officials responsible.

He also wrote to Nitin Patel, asking him to demand for Jadeja's resignation over the custodial death.

