PL Punia demands CBI probe into custodial death of Dalit man from Kanpur

Kanpur: National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) Chairman P L Punia on Saturday demanded a CBI probe into the custodial death of a 26-year-old Dalit man. Punia met the family of Kamal Valmiki, who was found dead at Ahirwan police station on Thursday under suspicious [caption id=“attachment_2160375” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PL Punia. IBNLive[/caption] circumstances. He was picked up along with another man, Raju Mistri, in a case of loot. “Kamal’s family has alleged that the policemen had beaten him up with a steel rod and even gave him electric shocks. When he died, they hanged his dead body to show that he committed suicide,” said Punia after meeting Kamal’s family. Even the post mortem report stated he died due to excessive use of force, Punia added. Punia said that Kamal’s family has demanded a probe by the CBI into his death and that all the 15 suspended policemen should be arrested on the charge of murder. “Kamal’s family lives in a shanty. If indeed he was a dacoit, then at least his house would have been in a better condition,” said Punia, trashing police’s charge that Kamal was a dacoit. He has also demanded that the state government provide financial assistance to Kamal’s family, a house and government job to at least one member of the family. Three officers, including station in charge Jiwanram Yadav have been suspended in this connection, taking the total number of suspended police personnel to 15, Kanpur SSP Shalabh Mathur had said on Friday. An investigation into the death has been ordered in the matter but no arrests have been made so far.