Days after death of Dalit man, his friend also dies due to ‘police torture’ in Rajkot
Rajesh Solanki was also picked by the police on April 14 along with Gopal Rathod, who died two days later.
By: Express News Service Rajkot | Updated: April 26, 2024 01:41 IST
The deceased, Raju alias Rajesh Solanki, 40, a resident of Khodiyarnagar locality of Rajkot city, was picked up by a team from the Malaviyanagar police station late in the night of April 14 after a quarrel with his neighbours.
More than a week after the death of a Dalit man, Hamir alias Gopal Rathod, in Rajkot due to alleged police torture, his friend on Wednesday also succumbed to injuries allegedly inflicted by the police when they were in custody at Malaviyanagar police station on April 14.
The deceased, Raju alias Rajesh Solanki (40), a resident of Khodiyarnagar in Rajkot city, was picked up by a team from the Malaviyanagar police station late in the night of April 14 after a quarrel with his neighbours. Rathod was also detained after he tried to intervene in the quarrel and tried to broker peace between Solanki and the latter’s neighbour.
With Rathod’s family alleging that he had died due to police torture, Assistant Sub-Inspector Ashwin Kangad, attached to Malaviyanagar police station, was arrested Monday.
Solanki’s family alleged that police tortured him before releasing him on bail. “My father was taken to Malaviyanagar police station and beaten severely, especially in the thigh,” said Jayesh, son of Solanki, who belonged to the Khat community under Other Backward Classes (OBC).
Family members of Solanki and Dalits gather at Rajkot civil hospital (Express Photo)
“He was detained in connection with an incident of April 14 and was released on bail the next day. His health deteriorated three days ago. So, he was hospitalised and died today (Wednesday),” Assistant Commissioner of Police Radhika Bharai told mediapersons.
Bharai added that a team from the forensic medicine department of the government-run Rajkot Civil Hospital would conduct a postmortem examination on Solanki’s body.
With his family members and a group of Dalits staging a protest, demanding that the probe into the case be transferred to an IPS officer, the ACP said: “We will listen to the grievances of the family and take appropriate action.”
According to an FIR registered at Malaviyanagar police station, when a neighbour brought Rathod home from the Malaviyanagar police station around 1 am on April 15, he was in semi-conscious condition. The family rushed him to a private hospital after he did not wake up in the morning. He died on the morning of April 16 while undergoing treatment.
