delhi

Updated: May 23, 2015 08:35 IST

A 22-year-old man who was in the custody of the Okhla police on suspicion of stealing a mobile phone has landed up at AIIMS Trauma Centre with multiple fractures, and his mother has been made to pick up part of the treatment cost.

Dhanprakash alias Deepak was brought to the hospital on Wednesday, 12 hours after he was picked up for allegedly possessing a stolen mobile phone. Policemen at Okhla Industrial Estate police station claimed he jumped from the second floor of the building.

His widowed mother Kashmira, however, accused the police of torturing Deepak through the night and did not rule out the possibility that he may have been pushed.

"My son is saying he attempted to flee to evade the police torture and, in the process, fell off the second floor. I don't know what the truth is. He must be giving this statement under pressure," she said.

"The policemen made me deposit Rs 15,000 and they paid Rs 25,000 for the treatment," she added.

Refuting the allegations of custodial brutality, DCP (southeast) Mandeep Singh Randhawa said, "The arresting officer, Constable Shiv Charan, has been suspended for negligence. Deepak was arrested in the theft case and the mobile recovered from him. He fell off the second floor while attempting to flee. His mother paid the money for treatment."

Sources at AIIMS also said the victim's medical report showed he was brought to the hospital at around 1.30pm, over eight hours after he was injured.

But the DCP said, "I have been told there was no delay in rushing the injured to the hospital."

According to the police, Deepak, a resident of Tehkhand village in Okhla, was arrested for being in possession of a Samsung Galaxy handset that belonged to Deen Bandhu Thakur, who lives in the same village. An FIR had been registered on April 9 on Thakur's complaint that his mobile phone and wallet - containing cash, his driving licence and ATM cards - were stolen from his room.

However, even a day after Deepak's arrest, the police did not inform Thakur of the recovery of his cellphone. Thakur told HT he went to the police station on Thursday to hand over documents pertaining to the stolen mobile, and was given no update on the case.