Man, 28, dies at Jogeshwari police station, family alleges ill-treatment by police | Bombay News

MUMBAI: A 28-year-old businessman who went to the Jogeshwari police station on Thursday to lodge a complaint against his employees died under mysterious circumstances.

The man’s family accused police of excessive use of force, saying he died from injuries sustained during a physical altercation with officers.

From April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2023, of the 687 people who died in police custody across the country, 81 were in Gujarat and 80 in Maharashtra. The latest case is the death of caretaker Akshay Shinde, 23, who allegedly sexually assaulted two four-year-old girls at a school in Badlapur. Shinde was killed in a “retaliatory shooting” and this was the fifth custodial death in Maharashtra in the past year.

The custodial death of Deepak Jadhav on Thursday took an intense turn after his family leveled serious allegations against the police. Now, the crime branch will investigate the matter.

Jadhav, who worked in a catering company, had gone to the police station to lodge a complaint regarding a dispute with his employees. A violent argument had broken out between Deepak and his employees over unpaid salaries, prompting him to seek help from the police.

Jadhav went to the police station and learned that his employees had already filed a police complaint against him. “He then went to the police station toilet and when he returned a few minutes later, he started to feel uncomfortable and suddenly collapsed,” said a police officer. The police officers present immediately rushed him to the Jogeshwari East trauma center, where he died during treatment.

Jadhav’s family members, present at the police station, alleged that he was ill-treated and threatened by the police, which led to his death. “The matter should be thoroughly investigated,” said one of his relatives.

Police officers denied the accusation that Jadhav was mistreated or threatened, saying he collapsed suddenly and was rushed to hospital. Mangesh Shinde, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 10, said the body was sent to JJ Hospital for post-mortem to find out the exact cause of death after conducting an inquest in the presence of the Tehsildar.

The investigation – a procedure to identify when, where and how a person died – was carried out and no external injury marks were found on the body. “The death is an accidental case but we have informed the Tehsildar and conducted the investigation in his presence and have also recorded the investigation on video as we are treating it as a custodial death,” said a police officer of the Jogeshwari police station.

The investigation into the case will now be transferred to the crime branch amid allegations from the family that Jadhav was threatened by the police.