Hazaribag, Apr 28 (PTI) Five policemen have been suspended on charges of dereliction of duty in connection with the custodial death of a member of a banned Naxalite outfit inside a police station in Jharkhand’s Hazaribag district, a senior police officer said. Nand Kishore Mahto, a 32-year-old member of the People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), was found hanging in the toilet of Hazaribag Muffasil Police Station lock-up on Tuesday morning.
The PLFI is a splinter group of the CPI(Maoist).
Hazaribag Superintendent of Police, Manoj Ratan Chothe, along with senior police officials conducted a preliminary inquiry immediately after receiving information about Mahto’s death.
The SP who found negligence on the part of the policemen on duty, including the ASI who was in charge of the lock-up, suspended the five police personnel on Wednesday night.
The principal district and sessions judge, Hazaribag, Satya Prakash Sinha has deputed a first class judicial magistrate to probe Mahto’s death.
The findings of the judicial magistrate and the police team will be sent to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the SP said.
A CID team from Ranchi will also conduct a separate inquiry. The team will visit the place of occurrence and interrogate the suspended policemen, including an ASI.
Mahto, who was earlier associated with the CPI(Maoist), recently came out of jail and joined the PLFI, Chothe said.
Mahto was accused of extorting NTPC, ONGC, and construction companies operating in Barkagaon and Keredari police station areas of Hazaribag district. The police had set up a special investigation team (SIT) which arrested him on the intervening night of April 25 and 26. PTI COR BS MM MM
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Source: The Print
