Sohail Sheikh, a 26 year – old cab driver died due to ‘excessive beating’ in the custody of Mumbai Police in Chembur as per his family’s allegations.
An officer from the RCF Police Station in Chembur is accused by the family of Sheikh for his custodial killing. On Tuesday afternoon, Sohail was picked up from his uncle’s residence and was declared dead the next day, after the police allegedly refused to let him take his medications for hypertension.
On 15th September a constable and an officer in civil clothes visited Sohail’s uncle Tayyab Mansoor Sheikh’s home and took them both to the police station for questioning.
While police claim that they were picked up on suspicion of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, Mansoor said they never mentioned it to them.
Mansoor said, “The officer beat us up with a belt inside the police station. After an hour, Sohail started sweating and I knew that he had hypertension and was on medications. I requested the officer to let me call someone in the family so that they can bring his medicines, but they didn’t listen”.
But when Mansoor insisted, the cop said, ‘police station me sabko pasina aata hai (everyone starts sweating in the police station)’. And after sometime, Sohail felt giddy and collapsed, but still they didn’t do anything. He was unconscious for around six-seven hours.”
Tayyab alleged that the officer brought some sacks full of cannabis and said he would book us for possession if they don’t give Rs 2.5 lakh. “He later agreed on Rs 50,000. We were allowed to leave after spending 8 hours in the police station.”
By then Sohail was unconscious even after we reached home around 11.30 pm, he said. “I thought he would be okay after some time but he was suddenly gasping for breath”, said Mansoor.
The family rushed him to a private hospital in Chembur which denied and referred him to Sion hospital. “We reached Sion hospital in the morning. Doctors said there were blood clots in his brain, and declared him dead on 16 September afternoon. His body was sent to JJ Hospital for post-mortem,” said Qurban Sheikh, Sohail’s younger brother.
“He was beaten by the officer so badly that he lost his life,” he added.
Denying all the allegations, Sopan Nighot, senior inspector , “When he started feeling uncomfortable, we allowed him to take his medicines. There are CCTV cameras inside the police station. We will also conduct an internal inquiry on the allegations of the family,” said.
The police refused to hand over the body due to high coronavirus cases in the area. “They later agreed to take his body to our house in another area but then they directly took it to the cemetery,” said Qurban Sheikh.
Sohail was recently married and is survived by a wife. He lived in Lallubhai Compound in Mankhurd. He had shifted to Tayyab Mansoor’s place in Mahul Road in Chembur some days ago.