On Thursday, another victim was brought to hospital, but registered as unknown, cops say he wasn't arrested and they found him injured
Police detain protesters against Mandsaur incident in Ahmedabad on Friday. Pics/PTI
Even as the blame for who killed the five Madhya Pradesh farmers by opening fire on them keeps getting volleyed between the CRPF and the Madhya Pradesh police, on Thursday night, another death was reported, which might spell new trouble for the MP police.
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Mysterious patient
According to Dr Sharad Thora, dean of Mahatma Gandhi Medical College, Indore, "On Thursday night, the Mandsaur police brought in an 'unknown' patient in a serious condition. The patient had earlier been taken to a local district hospital in Mandsaur, and from there, he was transferred to the medical college."
Thora added, "The police informed the doctors that the patient was in their custody when he started vomiting, so they brought him in for treatment. However, within 15 minutes, attempts to revive him did not work and he was declared dead. The body was then sent for a post-mortem and later handed over to police."
So what's the mystery surrounding him? Dr Thora clarifies that following the police firing, seven patients were brought in. "The seven patients all had gunshot injuries — some sustained on the back, on the leg, one even had a bullet brush the scalp, but all are now recovering and out of danger." However, this eighth person — later identified as Ghanshyam Dagar (36), a resident of Badban village — was not a case of firearm wound.
When mid-day contacted Dr RH Chauhan, senior on-duty casualty medical officer at the medical college when the patient was brought in, he said, "As per our hospital records, this man was brought in by the police a little past 10 pm on Thursday was only registered as 'unknown'. He was in a bad condition and was breathless with a low pulse. We tried to put him on ventilator support and even other unit doctors were alerted, but during the course of treatment, he passed away." However, on the question of whether there were injury marks on the body, Dr Chauhan deferred answering, saying the autopsy people would be able to comment on it.
Scene after violent clashes between farmers and the police on Tuesday
Custodial death?
On Friday, Dagar's body was sent to the mortuary where a team of forensic doctors conducted the autopsy and returned it to the police, who then handed it over to the family for cremation.
Meanwhile, the police has gone into damage control mode by claiming that of the 17 FIRs registered and 156 arrested for rioting and arson, Dagar was not one of the arrested, but that he was 'under their care'.
Explaining further, town inspector of Bhaugarh police station, Sanjay Singh, claims, "On Thursday, there was still tension and curfew. It was during a search and comb operation that Dagar was found lying injured by the police team near Talodha railway, just five kilometres away from the protest in Mandsaur," adding, "He may have been one of the protesters trying to get away from the police action. We took him first to the local hospital and later to the medical college, but he died within an hour."
Singh, however, denied that this was a case of custodial death, stating, "We had not detained him nor shown him as an arrested accused, therefore, he was not a custodial accused. Rather, he was in the care of the police, who tried their best to save him." The locals though, have rubbished this explanation, insisting that Dagar had been detained and was in custody at the time of his death.
On Friday afternoon, despite the tension, hundreds of villagers participated in Dagar's cremation and the situation remained under control, said a member from Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh.
mid-day's June 9 report on the issue
Mandsaur SP transferred
Meanwhile, in a surprise move, OP Tripathi, superintendent of police, Mandsaur district, was transferred on Thursday and replaced by Manoj Singh. The new SP, however, also refused to answer the question of custodial death and said, "I have just taken charge today, and am in a meeting," before disconnecting the call. Makrand Deuskar, IG (Intelligence) also ducked the question and only said, "I am busy in a meeting and cannot comment."
Farmers union to approach NHRC
In another development, Binod Anand of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh, Delhi, said, "To condemn the police firing that killed five farmers, we are taking a delegation to the National Human Rights Commission chairman on Monday. We will also raise our concern about Dagar's mysterious death in police custody, which also needs to be probed by the judicial committee." He further added that nearly 62 different associations are supporting them, so on Saturday, a peace dharna will be held at Gandhi Peace Foundation, Delhi where they will decide on the future course of action.
"The paramilitary forces, under the order from state administration, opened fire on the farmers and the central government has to be held responsible. They failed to provide any technical or technological supports to the farmers, which led to heavy losses. The farmers were only demanding a loan waiver, and they got bullets instead," said the representative.
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