HC orders magisterial probe in case of custodial death

Mumbai, Apr 25 (UNI) The Bombay High Court today ordered a magisterial inquiry in the case of a custodial death at the Agripada police lock-up on April 5.

Justice V M Kanade passed this order on the petition filed by the family of Premnath Rao, who according to police, had allegedly committed suicide in the lock-up by strangulating himself after being held in a theft case.

However, during the postmortem at J J hospital, several injuries were found on the deceased's body, following which his brother filed an appeal in the High Court alleging that it was ''death due to torture by police.'' He also requested for a second postmortem and an independent and ''dispassionate'' probe in the case. The family then preserved the body at MGM hospital in Panvel.

Later, Justice V M Kanade ordered a second postmortem at Lokmanya Tilak hospital, Sion in the presence of a magistrate and a relative of the deceased, the report of which was submitted before the HC on April 20 and it re-affirmed the first postmortem report and was ''no different from the first,'' according to Chief Public Prosecutor Satish Borulkar.

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