Kalyan cops ‘beat youth to death’

KALYAN: Prashant Jadhav (25) died after he was allegedly beaten up by two patrolling policemen posted at Kolsewadi in Kalyan on Thursday morning.
A resident of Chinchpada Road in Kalyan (E), he along with friends— Umesh Pagare and Rahul— were roaming around when assistant inspector S D Yadav and police constable Shailesh Shinde questioned them as they were ‘drunk’ at 1.30am.
When Prashant argued with the cops, they allegedly beat him up in his friends’ presence. Pagare claimed that Prashant started vomiting and fell unconscious when the cops thrashed him. The cops then allegedly told Prashant’s friends to throw water on his face and leave the spot. The friends, thinking Prashant was sleeping, went to a vehicle nearby, where they slept through the night.
When they woke up in the morning, they found Jadhav was not responding, and called up his younger brother, Kiran. Prashant was taken to Rukminibai hospital, where he was declared death.
When the victim’s family demanded a post-mortem at JJ Hospital, the Kolsewadi police insisted it be done at Rukminibai hospital itself. It was only after a protest by the family that they were permitted to take the body to JJ Hospital.
Prashant, who worked as a security guard with a private company, had three brothers, while his father is retired.
Kiran said, “We want the policemen who took my brother’s life to be punished as they only had the right to arrest but not kill.”
Shailesh Tiwari, a local resident, said the policemen’s act was shocking, and he claimed that they often targeted youths for petty crimes.
Manoj Patil, deputy commissioner of police (zone III), said, “We have recorded the statements of both the deceased’s friends and are awaiting the post-mortem report, on the basis of which we will register a case.”
The victim’s family has demanded that the probe be handled by some other agency as the Kolsewadi police will try and protect their colleagues.