Family stages protest after man dies in Kanpur jail

Kanpur: Family members of a prisoner, who died under suspicious circumstances in Kanpur jail, staged a protest outside the Military Camp police outpost in the Juhi police station area on Thursday night, alleging police assault led to his death.The deceased, identified as Ranjeet, had been arrested on March 10 in connection with the theft of hardware goods from a transport company in Juhi and was later sent to jail. Police said he died a day after being lodged there. According to police, Ranjeet's health deteriorated in the evening after he was sent to jail. He was first treated at the jail hospital and later referred to Ursala Hospital, where he died during treatment the same night. After receiving information about his death, family members gathered outside the outpost and raised allegations that Ranjeet had been beaten by police at the time of his arrest, which they said worsened his condition and resulted in his death.The protest continued for nearly three to four hours and created tension in the area. ACP Babupurwa Dilip Singh reached the spot and tried to calm the protesters, but the family continued to demand action late into the night. The case in which Ranjeet was arrested relates to the theft of hardware goods worth around Rs 2 lakh from outside a transport office near Juhi Military Camp. Shyam Shukla, a resident of Kidwai Nagar who runs the transport business, told police that the consignment had been booked on March 1 by Chabra Transport from Aligarh. The goods were allegedly stolen late that night by three men who arrived in an e-rickshaw. When the consignment did not reach Jaunpur, the trader contacted the transport operator, after which a police case was registered. Using CCTV footage, police arrested Ranjeet and another accused, Dharmendra, on March 10. DCP South Deependranath Chaudhary said Ranjeet had been sent to jail after a medical examination and no injuries were noted in the report. Police said further action would depend on the postmortem findings.