5 Darwha cops suspended for custodial death

Yavatmal: Five cops, including a police sub-inspector of Darwha police station, were suspended by Yavatmal superintendent of police Dilip Patil Bhujbal after departmental probe found them complicit in the death of a youth in police custody.
Those suspended include PSI Sunil Vispute, head constables Purushottam Bawane and Sachin Jadhav, jeep driver Shabbir Pappuwala and diary amaldar Mohiture.
On July 6, the police had taken four youths from Taroda village under Darwha police station for creating ruckus in inebriated condition. While the cops were taking them to police station in an autorickshaw, one of the accused jumped off the vehicle and fled. The other three were locked up in the police station. One of them Sheikh Irfan Sk. Shabbir (30), a resident of railway station area of Darwha, died in the police lock-up.
As the news of the youth’s death spread, an irate mob gathered at the police station and pelted stones in which three cops sustained injuries and an ST bus was damaged.
Claiming that Shabbir was beaten to death while in police lock-up, the victim’s relatives refused to perform the last rites and demanded FIR against the cops responsible.
Senior cops, including SP and Amravati deputy commissioner of police, had visited the town, promised to take action against the cops and ordered a probe. After receiving the probe report, the SP initiated action against the cops.