Victim’s brother files complaint against six policemen at Madhopur village in Haridwar District
Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — A Muslim youth was beaten up by policemen and thrown into a pond over suspicion of carrying cow meat in the Roorkee area of Uttarkhand’s Haridwar district on Sunday, alleged family members.
However, the local police claimed that 24-year-old Wasim died after he tripped into the pond in trying to speed up his scooter to escape the police, reports said on Tuesday.
Wasim hails from Sohalpur village in Roorkee. In his complaint filed at the Kotwali police station in Gangnahar, Alauddin, brother of Wasim, alleged that the deceased was beaten up by some policemen at Madhopur village while he was coming back from his sister’s home.
In the complaint, he mentioned three names Sharad Singh, Sunil Saini and Praveen Saini. Besides them, Alauddin has also mentioned three unnamed policemen.
“Without any reason, they started beating him up after stopping him on the way near a graveyard in Madhopur village. After beating him up, they threw him into a pond. They did not even allow others to take him out of the pond after several attempts,” said Alauddin in his complaint.
As per the complaint, the police officials threatened to shoot them and asked them to go away when they tried to rescue Wasim.
Speaking to Clarion India over the phone, Alauddin said: “I don’t know how Wasim was beaten up. He had several cut marks on his face. One of his eyes was also torn. The nose was damaged and there were bruise marks on the head too.”
According to him, no FIR was registered on his complaint filed on Sunday. However, three FIRs were filed against Alauddin and others over the allegation of holding policemen hostage and assaulting them.
As per the police, a crowd of locals surrounded the police team, abused and assaulted officers, and held them hostage. About the death of Wasim, the Haridwar police said the Cow Protection Squad in the Kotwali Gangnahar locality stopped a suspicious scooter rider in Madhopur village in the early hours of Sunday, following reports of cow meat smuggling. Police claimed that the rider then abandoned the scooter and fled, before jumping into a village pond where he drowned.
About the allegations of assault on the policemen, Alauddin called the FIRs against him and other locals “false cases” saying that they did nothing to the policemen.
As per the family members, the police were going after Wasim because they were “targeting” his family members over cow-related cases. About six months ago, one of Wasim’s brothers was picked up by police over an allegation of cow smuggling. He was also shot in the leg in a police encounter. There were clashes between his family members and the policemen. Since then, the family has been under the radar of the police.
Alauddin questioned the police version that Wasim fell into the pond on his own.
“If he would fall into the pond himself on his own, why would he be saying “save me”. There is video evidence. Where would his T-shirt go? When he was taken out of the pond, he was shirtless. How would his eyes damaged? How would tooth be broken,” he asked.
Alauddin said that his brother was murdered and all the six policemen had hatched a conspiracy to eliminate him.
