Teen’s death: CCTV footage raises several questions

KANPUR: Sacked home guard Satyaprakash, who along with two police constables is accused of beating a teenage vegetable vendor to death for partial corona curfew violation in Unnao’s Bangarmau, was interrogated for barely 30 minutes and sent to Unnao jail quickly raising serious doubts about the police’s approach to the case.

Replying to the two-three questions put to him, the home guard said the vendor was forcibly taken from his shop and brought to the police station sandwiched between him and constable Vijay Chowdhary.

“As we reached the police station, the vendor slumped to the ground, everyone got scared,” said officials privy to his interrogation. His version of the teen being taken away by force is corroborated by the footage from CCTV camera, which was installed opposite his shop.

The footage shows Chowdhary and Prakash arriving on a motorcycle and stopping a metre away from the shop. Chowdhary is seen gesturing to the vendor to come and the vendor follows the instruction. Then, Chowdhary is seen slapping him thrice with force and compelling him to sit on the motorcycle.

The home guard, on his part, has denied beating the teen inside the police station. But the family insists he was assaulted inside the police station where his condition deteriorated.

His denial was in line with the police station CCTV footage, which was “mysteriously” released a day after the death on Saturday. According to the footage, the vendor apparently was allowed to go back but he had difficulty walking and nearly fell at the gates.

Policemen are seen attending him and carrying him away.

The CCTV footage raises doubts as no camera number is seen, nor is there any mention of time and date. District magistrate Ravindra Kumar said the police were looking into who released the footage and whether it was edited.

The vendor’s father alleged that his son was beaten up in the police station and the footage was deliberately produced to negate this allegation.

“Then where else was he beaten up? The post-mortem has found 14 injuries, the one on the back of the ear was fatal,” he said. His mother was inconsolable and said her son was handed over to her and a relative in an unconscious state at the police station.

“We took him to the hospital in a battery rickshaw that we arranged. The policemen did nothing,” she alleged. According to people familiar with the issue, the release of the footage has raised more questions than answers.

None of the policemen present in the Bangarmau police station on the day had been questioned yet, according to them.

“It has been two days since the investigation was transferred to the crime branch and they haven’t been questioned,” they said.