Mumbai: A 32-year-old man, arrested in connection with the firing outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan's residence, allegedly hanged himself in the police lockup on Wednesday. The officers provided this information.
He said the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Maharashtra Police has taken over the investigation into the custodial death of Anuj Thapan and the CCTV footage of the lockup will be examined.
Thapan was accused of providing weapons to the shooters who opened fire outside Khan's residence in Bandra on April 14 and was arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch a week later.
He hanged himself with a piece of bedsheet in the toilet of the first floor lock-up located in the crime branch building inside the police commissioner's office complex in south Mumbai, an official said. The incident came to light around 1 pm on Wednesday when a crime branch officer noticed that Thapan was in the toilet for a long time. He was found hanging from the toilet window when the door was forcefully opened, the officer said.He was taken to the nearby government Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital, where he was declared brought dead during treatment, the official said.
Five other accused were also in the lockup at the time of the incident. The officer said Thapan's two co-accused in the firing case have been taken out for investigation. He said the state CID has taken over the investigation into Thapan's custodial death and will probe whether there was any negligence on the part of crime branch officials.
Usually, if an accused tells the lock-up in-charge that he wants to go to the toilet, a policeman accompanies him.The officer said the CID would investigate whether these norms were followed.
Later in the evening, Thapan's body was sent to the government-run JJ Hospital for postmortem in front of cameras, where the postmortem will be conducted by forensic doctors in the presence of a magistrate, while a case of accidental death was registered in Azad. Maidan Police Station.
A senior police officer said that five policemen were deployed in the crime branch lockup and as per the High Court guidelines, CCTV cameras were also installed inside.
"After examining the CCTV footage, we will find out what exactly happened," he said.
Thapan and Sonu Kumar Bishnoi (32) were arrested by the Crime Branch team on April 26 from Fazilka, Punjab. Both of them had allegedly provided weapons to shooters Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta for firing at Salman Khan's residence.According to the police, the two had gone to Panvel near Mumbai on March 15 to hand over two country-made pistols and 38 live cartridges to Pal and Gupta.
Thapan and Sonu's village in Punjab is very close to the village of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. Lawrence, who is currently lodged in Ahmedabad's Sabarmati Central Jail, and his younger brother Anmol Bishnoi, who are believed to be in the US or Canada, have been named as wanted accused in the shooting case. Along with Lawrence and Anmol Bishnoi, Thapan and Adhikari said Sonu was also an accused in an old firing case registered in Gangapur, Punjab, and Thapan was a key link in that case.
Speaking to the media here, Thapan's lawyer alleged that the police used force "during interrogation".“We are demanding a probe by CBI or state police,” he said.
He said the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Maharashtra Police has taken over the investigation into the custodial death of Anuj Thapan and the CCTV footage of the lockup will be examined.
Thapan was accused of providing weapons to the shooters who opened fire outside Khan's residence in Bandra on April 14 and was arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch a week later.
He hanged himself with a piece of bedsheet in the toilet of the first floor lock-up located in the crime branch building inside the police commissioner's office complex in south Mumbai, an official said. The incident came to light around 1 pm on Wednesday when a crime branch officer noticed that Thapan was in the toilet for a long time. He was found hanging from the toilet window when the door was forcefully opened, the officer said.He was taken to the nearby government Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital, where he was declared brought dead during treatment, the official said.
Five other accused were also in the lockup at the time of the incident. The officer said Thapan's two co-accused in the firing case have been taken out for investigation. He said the state CID has taken over the investigation into Thapan's custodial death and will probe whether there was any negligence on the part of crime branch officials.
Usually, if an accused tells the lock-up in-charge that he wants to go to the toilet, a policeman accompanies him.The officer said the CID would investigate whether these norms were followed.
Later in the evening, Thapan's body was sent to the government-run JJ Hospital for postmortem in front of cameras, where the postmortem will be conducted by forensic doctors in the presence of a magistrate, while a case of accidental death was registered in Azad. Maidan Police Station.
A senior police officer said that five policemen were deployed in the crime branch lockup and as per the High Court guidelines, CCTV cameras were also installed inside.
"After examining the CCTV footage, we will find out what exactly happened," he said.
Thapan and Sonu Kumar Bishnoi (32) were arrested by the Crime Branch team on April 26 from Fazilka, Punjab. Both of them had allegedly provided weapons to shooters Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta for firing at Salman Khan's residence.According to the police, the two had gone to Panvel near Mumbai on March 15 to hand over two country-made pistols and 38 live cartridges to Pal and Gupta.
Thapan and Sonu's village in Punjab is very close to the village of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. Lawrence, who is currently lodged in Ahmedabad's Sabarmati Central Jail, and his younger brother Anmol Bishnoi, who are believed to be in the US or Canada, have been named as wanted accused in the shooting case. Along with Lawrence and Anmol Bishnoi, Thapan and Adhikari said Sonu was also an accused in an old firing case registered in Gangapur, Punjab, and Thapan was a key link in that case.
Speaking to the media here, Thapan's lawyer alleged that the police used force "during interrogation".“We are demanding a probe by CBI or state police,” he said.
