The Kolhapur sessions court on Friday awarded life imprisonment to two police officers and a constable in the case of custodial death of a 21-year-old youth in August 2014.

Additional District and Sessions Judge L.D. Bile sentenced Assistant Police Inspector Sanjiv Ramchandra Patil, Assistant Sub-Inspector Baban Dadu Shinde and police naik Dhanaji Shivajirao Patil to life imprisonment for the death of Jagdish alias ‘Sunny’ Powar. The judge also imposed Rs. 15,000 in penalty on each. A sum of Rs. 25,000 from the penalty amount should be paid to the family of the deceased as ‘compensation.’

According to the official version, a clash broke out between two groups during the Mahalaxmi Yatra on August 23, 2014. Powar and some residents, belonging to one faction, demanded police action against the other and allegedly took part in agitations against the police. A bus of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation was damaged in stone-throwing. Powar was detained and, according to later reports, mercilessly beaten by the accused policemen in the station. He was rushed to the Chhatrapati Pramila Raje Civil Hospital in the city where he was declared dead on arrival.

As the news of his death spread, a mob torched police vehicles and stoned the police station.

Powar’s elder brother, Jaydeep, filed a complaint against the accused. The case was quickly transferred to the CID, which concluded that the death was “unnatural” and held the three policemen responsible for it.