Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday sought a CBI probe into the mysterious death of Dalit youth inside a police chowki in Jhajjar town of Haryana last week.
Kejriwal visited the family of the deceased, Rajesh Kumar, in Jhajjar and accused the authorities of trying to hush up the case.
Describing the 22-year-old's death as a "cold-blooded" murder, Kejriwal said, "I met his (Kumar's) mother. She told me that the police had picked him up as a witness in some case. He was not at fault, there was no FIR against him. In the police station, in a way, he has been murdered and now they are trying to hush up the matter by saying it was a case of suicide,"
Police maintain that Kumar had committed suicide by hanging himself in the police chowki in Jhajjar.
"How can anyone hang himself inside a police station? We demand that this case be handed over to the CBI and those police personnel, who are behind this, they should be given exemplary punishment," Kejriwal, who was accompanied by AAP's Haryana unit chief, Naveen Jaihind, and a ministerial colleague, told reporters in Jhajjar.
"They (the culprits) should be hanged, they should be given strict punishment so that no one in future dares to commit such a thing with a poor person," the Aam Aadmi Party chief said.
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He also alleged that many incidents against Dalits had been reported in Haryana and they should be given security."My demand from (Chief Minister Manohar Lal) Khattar sahab is that Dalits be given security, especially this family. This family should also be given adequate compensation, a job should also be given to one member and they should be given justice."
Kumar's mother was inconsolable and told Kejriwal that her son, who used to ply an e-rickshaw, was the only one who earns in the family. "I have four children, three daughters and he was my only son," she said.
Earlier, Congress leader Geeta Bhukkal and Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala had also visited the family and demanded an independent probe into the case and compensation for the family from the state government.
According to the police on Monday, Kumar had picked up a wire inside the police chowki and hanged himself.
As per law, as the incident had taken place inside a police chowki, an inquiry by a judicial magistrate was already being held, a senior police official said.
"A post-mortem was done, whose report confirms death by hanging. There is no other injury mark on the body," Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Shashank Kumar said.
According to the ASP, the youth had been brought to the chowki by some individual, who lodged a complaint stating that he be questioned in connection with his grandson going missing.
When Rajesh was inside the chowki, some policemen who were on duty at that time had gone to clear a traffic congestion in the area, the officer said.
As only a couple of police personnel were inside the station, they failed to notice Rajesh taking the step, the officer added.
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