Bullet injury in neck caused death: Doc

JAIPUR: The post-mortem of the alleged cow smuggler, killed in a shootout with Alwar police, was conducted on Saturday, and a doctor on the medical board said the death was caused by a bullet injury to the neck.

Taleem, 22, from Salaheri village in Nuh, a town in Haryana’s Mewat district, was killed in a police encounter in Rajasthan’s Alwar district when he, along with five or six other accomplices, was allegedly smuggling cows in a pick-up truck early on Thursday. The others managed to escape from the spot. The police version is that he died after the police fired at a truck he was driving, which was carrying stolen cattle. The police added that the truck did not stop at two earlier barricades.

The post-mortem was conducted by a medical board comprising Dr Dinesh Yadav, Dr Yogesh Chaudhary, Dr Shyam Mohan Goyal and medical jurist Dr KK Meena. Members of the FSL team and CID-CB deputy SP Suresh Mehrania were also present. The CID-CB is investigating the case. Dr Meena said there were three to four injuries on Taleem’s body. “The main injury was on the neck. A bullet was dislodged from the neck. It had shattered the wind pipe that led to the death,” Meena told HT. He said the bullet has been sent to the state laboratory.

The family members of the deceased claimed the body and returned to their native village, Salahedi, 95 km from Alwar, after the post-mortem was conducted.

They had reached Alwar on Thursday to take the body, but as they reached late, the post-mortem could not be conducted on that day.

On Friday, the post-mortem was again postponed as doctors went on a mass leave.

The family had demanded that they be given compensation and that a probe into the killing be conducted outside the district as well as a case filed against the police team that allegedly killed Taleem. Chaudhary said the Alwar administration had refused to file a case against the police, and regarding other demands they had said they would look into them. “We will approach the court in Haryana to file a complaint against the Alwar police,” said Chaudhary.

Taleem’s father Shareef is a farmer, and two of his brothers Shamshad and Sabir are also truck drivers.