3 held for allegedly killing Dalit man for having food seated on chair at wedding

india

Updated: May 07, 2019 09:55 IST

Three of the seven upper-caste men accused of beating a 21-year-old Dalit man nine days before he died at a Dehradun hospital on Sunday were arrested in Uttarakhand’s Tehri Garhwal district on Monday.

Jitendra Das was allegedly thrashed for having dinner seated in front of the ‘upper-caste men’ at a wedding on April 26.

Circle officer Uttam Singh, who is the investigating the case, said the three — Sobat Singh, Gajendra Singh and Hukum Singh — were being interrogated and would be presented before a court on Tuesday.

“After the investigations and the post-mortem report [of Das] is received, the remaining four accused would also be nabbed,” he said.

A doctor, who was involved in Das’ autopsy, said the report was yet to come but prima facie it seems over-medication for some ailment and not physical assault was the cause of his death.

“However, there were laceration marks found near his elbow and knee,” the doctor added on condition of anonymity.

A police officer, who is part of the investigating team, said on condition of anonymity, doctors have informed them that Das is unlikely to have died of physical assault.

“During probe, it has been found that he had epilepsy and was undergoing medication for it. It is likely that he consumed excessive medicines for it out of humiliation after being assaulted at the wedding. However, the doctors have communicated nothing to us in writing,” he said.