Shamli man killed: 4 cops booked, residents wonder why they beat him up

“The policemen said something to him and then started beating him with clubs as they repeatedly hurled abuses. They kept on beating him till he fell on the ground. The policemen then fled. I rushed to found him lying on the ground breathless. I called my siblings and neighbours for help,” Omveer’s 16-year-old daughter Pooja, who is the sole witness of the incident, told The Indian Express pointing to the damaged cot.

“We still do not know why the cops came to our place and why they beat him so brutally. He had no criminal record and neither did he had altercation with anyone recently. He was very poor and was struggling to take care of his eight children and an ailing wife,” said Omveer’s elder brother Om Pal.

“We marched to the Allum police post to catch hold of the cops but they had fled. A number of senior police officers rushed to the town following the incident but none gave us any plausible reason why a person like Omveer, who has no criminal record, was beaten up by the cops,” said Prem Pal Kashyap, who lives in the neighbourhood.

According to police sources, they had received a “tip-off” that some people, led by Omveer, were involved in gambling.

In the FIR, four constables have been named and one has not been identified. Those named are Anuj, Rahul and Altaf Zaidi. All have been booked under IPC section 304(causing death by negligence). The complaint was filed chairperson of Nagar Palika Deepa Pawar.

Superintendent of Police Sukriti Madhav said that action against the accused constables would be taken only after getting the report of the investigation.

“Our initial findings have suggested that Omveer died of cardiac arrest, but nothing could be said with certainty till we get the postmortem report. I have assured the family that action will be taken against those named in the FIR only if they were found guilty in our probe,” said the SP.

“We are still wondering why a poor labourer like Omveer, who had the responsibility of eight children and an ailing wife, was beaten by policemen. None is here to give us our answers,” the chairperson of the local civic body said.