Jammu, Mar 19: The District Magistrate, Kathua, Rahul Pandey has ordered a magisterial probe into the mysterious death of a police constable in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody yesterday.
“… the magisterial enquiry under section 176 CrPC is required to be conducted in the instant case for ascertaining the actual case of death and detailed report in the matter,” reads an order issued by the DM Kathua.
The order quoted a report of SSP Kathua i.e., death of Head Constable Mushtaq Ahmed (194-K) occurred in the custody of CBI Jammu team in suspicious circumstances and requested for initiation of magisterial enquiry under section 176 of CrPC.
Accordingly, the DM Kathua appointed Additional District Magistrate, Kathua, Vishav Partap Singh as enquiry magistrate to conduct the probe in instant case to ascertain the actual cause of death and detailed report in the matter.
“The enquiry magistrate shall submit his report by April 15, 2023,” the order reads while stating that the statement of all the relevant staff shall be recorded.
The report will be finished with conclusive findings of the board of doctors constituted by Principal Government Medical College, Kathua.
Following the post mortem conducted by the board of three doctors, the body of the deceased constable was handed over to the family members and he was laid to rest in Billawar amid anger among the family members and locals.
Meanwhile, the daughter of the deceased cop claimed that her father had died at 8 PM last night and they were informed at 9:30 PM. “We were not informed about the incident immediately, “she said.
The family further alleged that he was timely not shifted to the hospital even after he developed uneasiness in the CBI custody which led to his death during his questioning.
Besides, the local resented the suspicious trap in the case and raised questions about the complainant and ignoring the local police or PRIs while conducting searches in the house of the deceased cop. The matter should be investigated, a PRI said.
A delegation of people including PRIs and local politicians including Sarpanch, Bashir Ahmed, Sarpanch Prem Kumar, Sarpanch Parveen Raina, social activist Yasar Choudhary and others called on SSP Kathua, Shivdeep Singh Jamwal and demanded impartial probe into the matter.
Whereas, attempts were made to speak to CBI officials in Jammu, but there was no response from them.
Yesterday, the CBI had claimed that they had arrested Head Constable (Munshi), Women Police Station, Kathua, Mushtaq Ahmed in connection with demanding a bribe of Rs 5,000 from the complainant.