Madhya Pradesh : First death confirmed in Khargone violence, victim’s family accused police of hiding death
A 30-year-old man who went missing during communal violence in Khargone city of Madhya Pradesh has become the first victim of violence. The relatives of the deceased alleged that the police kept his death a secret for eight days.
Ibresh Khan’s body was kept at a government hospital in Indore for eight days due to non-availability of freezer facilities in Khargone’s Anand Nagar area, police said on Monday. A police officer said that Ibresh Khan died of a severe head injury caused by stones.
On April 10, during the Ram Navami procession, communal violence in Khargone city had resulted in arson and stone pelting, due to which curfew was imposed in the city. During the violence, Superintendent of Police Siddharth Chaudhary was shot in the leg.
Superintendent of Police (SP) in-charge Rohit Keswani told reporters, “An unidentified body was found the next day (April 11) of communal violence in Khargone’s Anand Nagar area. Since no freezer facility was available in Khargone, the body was kept at the Government Hospital in Indore after post-mortem.
At the same time, according to the Indian Express report, the police say that on April 11, they found an injured person in a cotton market. The cotton market is 300 meters away from Ibresh’s house. He was taken to the district hospital, but was declared brought dead on arrival and his identity remained unknown.
Talking to the newspaper, Superintendent of Police Keswani said that we were told by the supervisor of the cotton market that his guard Kamal Salve heard the sounds of a person being beaten up by a group of people in the cotton market.
The SP further said, ‘The guards told us that people were saying, ‘Maro isko maro’, but as soon as they heard the police siren, they all ran away.” Checked the footage but found nothing. And since his (deceased Ibresh) identity was not established, the body was sent to MY Hospital, Indore.
He told that the body was taken to Indore, 126 km away as they did not have adequate facilities to keep it in Khargone. Keswani said that the family members of Ibresh Khan had lodged a missing complaint on April 14. The post-mortem report shows that the man (Ibresh) was attacked with a blunt object on the left side of his head.
Confirming the murder, he said that a case has been registered in this regard under sections 302 (murder) and 34 (act done by several persons with the same intention) of the Indian Penal Code at Khargone police station on April 14 at 11.23 pm. .
It is worth noting that on April 14, when the curfew was relaxed at 11.23 am, Ibresh Khan’s family reached the Kotwali police station and lodged a missing complaint.
However, despite the police filing a missing complaint of Ibresh on the same day and an FIR for the murder of an unidentified person, these links were not intertwined, leaving Ibresh’s 65-year-old mother Mumtaz and her two sons and one. Sister wandered from door to door in search of Ibresh.
According to the SP, when the plight of the family became media headlines, the family was brought to MY Hospital on the night of April 17-18 for identification of the body. SP Keswani said, “After identification of Ibresh Khan, his body was handed over to his family members on Sunday.” He said that further investigation is on.
However, the relatives of Ibresh Khan, a resident of Islampur area, have accused the police of hiding the matter. Ibrash’s brother Ikhlaq Khan claimed that the deceased was seen by some people in police custody on April 12. He alleged that the police told him about Ibresh’s death and the whereabouts of his body only after they threatened to go to the media.
Ikhlaq alleged that Ibresh had gone to the Anand Nagar area to deliver food for Iftar, when he was hit with a stone. Talking to reporters, he alleged, “In Anand Nagar, people attacked my brother with weapons and crushed his head with stones.”
Ikhlaq also claimed that Ibresh Khan was seen by some people in police custody on April 12 but those witnesses were not ready to testify. He said, ‘A policeman came to me on Sunday night and told me that Ibresh’s body has been kept in Indore.’
Ikhlaq claimed that the condition of Ibresh’s body indicated that he was brutally assaulted. “He had a broken eye and there were bruises on his face and legs,” he said. Ikhlaq alleged that the police kept the family members in the dark about his brother’s whereabouts for eight days.
He claimed, “The police did not reveal the whereabouts of my brother even after registering a missing person complaint. The police told me about my brother’s body only when I threatened to go to the media. District administration officials have said that the administration is preparing to give an ex-gratia amount of Rs 4 lakh to the family of the deceased.
