70-year-old man dies in police custody in Vaishali district

Patna: A 70-year-old man, arrested for his alleged involvement in an attack on a police team following a dispute over a Rs 40 ice cream at Chausima Kalyanpur village in Vaishali district, died while undergoing treatment in police custody on Sunday.The family of Mohammad Nasir Shah alleged that his death was caused by police brutality. An investigation has been initiated into the matter.A team from Rajapakar and two other police stations had been attacked by villagers while attempting to resolve a dispute between two parties.Hajipur sadar subdivisional police officer (SDPO) Subodh Kumar said a case was registered at Rajapakar police station on Friday night in connection with the attack on the police team.

“Five people, including Shah, were arrested in connection with the case on Sept 6 and were kept in custody in Mahua police station lockup. Among them, accused Shah’s health condition suddenly deteriorated. He was rushed to Hajipur Sadar Hospital, where he died during treatment on Sunday.

After the postmortem, the body was handed over to the family,” he said.“A departmental inquiry has been initiated to probe the death of the accused in police custody.

The guilty will not be spared,” the SDPO added.The incident followed a commotion on Friday around 11pm during a procession when an ice cream vendor was not paid for a purchase. When the Dial-112 police team reached the neighbourhood with the vendor, it faced attacks and its vehicle was damaged. Subsequently, police from three stations arrived to control the situation, but villagers allegedly surrounded and assaulted them with sticks and rods, injuring Rajapakar station house officer Dharmendra Kumar, assistant sub-inspectors Sanjeevan Paswan and Mithilesh Kumar, and chowkidar Kapuri Thakur.Police sources said an FIR has been registered against 60 named and hundreds of unnamed individuals in connection with the attack on the police at Rajapakar station. On Saturday, the area remained calm under a heavy police presence. Vaishali superintendent of police Lalit Mohan Sharma and Mahua SDPO Sanjeev Kumar also visited the site.