Police leave scuffling men in same room, official returns to find 1 dead
TWO SUSPENDED Crime took place inside investigation officer’s room, constable and subinspector suspended, SHO sent to district lines The incident happened suddenly because of a minor lapse. To determine who is responsible and to what extent, an inquiry has been initiated and its findings will come out in the next
48 hours.
Admitting that there have been lapses on their part, Delhi Police have launched an inquiry after a man was stabbed to death inside a police station in south east Delhi on Tuesday.
Anil (34), a driver by profession, was stabbed to death with a ice pick by his neighbour, Vishal (22), inside Ambedkar Nagar police station in the presence of police personnel around 2.45 am on Tuesday.
The crime took place when both men were inside the investigation officer’s room on the first floor, where a sub-inspector was questioning them.
He went to attend other PCR calls, leaving behind a constable to keep an eye on them.
However, the constable left the room for about two minutes for some work. On his return, he saw Vishal stabbing Anil with a ice pick.
The sub-inspector and constable have been suspended. Also, the station house officer (SHO) has been sent to district lines.
Senior police officials said that the victim and the accused should have been taken to the interrogation room for questioning, instead of being taken into a room belonging to an investigation officer.
Also, the constable shouldn’t have left the accused and victim alone in the room. Even when he had been called for some other work, the constable should have ensured that there was some other police officer keeping an eye on both the men, said senior police officials.
Admitting to lapses in the police investigation, deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Romil Baaniya stated that the station house officer should have ensured that the investigation officer had interrogated the men in the interrogation room. But that didn’t happen, resulting in the incident.
“The incident happened suddenly because of a minor lapse. To determine who is responsible and to what extent, an inquiry has been initiated and its findings will come out in the next 48 hours,” said Baaniya.
Anil’s family said that there was negligence on the part of the police. Lovely, Anil’s wife, said that police knew that Vishal had fought with Anil and was even quarrelling with him inside the police station.
“Both the men should have been kept in separate rooms or police officers should not have left my husband alone with the accused. He died inside a police station in the presence of police, which is supposed to protect innocents. He was killed under their watch,” said Lovely.