Custodial Death Sparks Outrage In Bihar's Muzaffarpur, 3 Cops Booked For Murder

Three police officers in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, have been booked for the alleged custodial death of Shivam Jha, found hanging in a lock-up. His family alleges torture, sparking outrage and protests.

By : PTI | Updated at : 13 Feb 2025 08:07 PM (IST)

Muzaffarpur: Three police officers in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district have been booked for the alleged custodial death of a young man, who was found hanging from the ceiling of a police station lock-up last week, a senior official said on Thursday.

According to Superintendent of Police (Rural), Muzaffarpur, Vidyasagar, an FIR has been lodged against the then SHO of Kanti police station Sudhakar Pandey, sub-inspector S K Singh and constable Raghu Paswan.

"The FIR has been lodged on the basis of a complaint by Rinku Devi, mother of the deceased Shivam Jha. The three officers, who had been placed under suspension soon after Jha's death, have been booked under various sections of BNS, including those for murder,” the SP said.

"According to the complainant, Jha, who was in his early 20s, was picked up from their house on February 3 by the three police officers who allegedly implicated him in a false case of possessing arms and ammunition,” said Vidyasagar.

The FIR also mentions that when family members went to the police station to secure the release of Jha, they were chased away by the accused.

“In the meantime, Jha was beaten up inside the lock-up, which left the young man distressed and drove him to suicide,” the SP said, quoting the complaint.

He said the matter was being investigated and CCTV records checked.

Jha was found dead in the early hours of February 13, triggering outrage from the villagers, a section of which also vandalised the police station.

Opposition leaders like CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, who recently met the bereaved family members, and Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD, condemned the incident as "an example of police atrocities in Bihar under the Nitish Kumar government".

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)