JHANSI Four police personnel, including the station house officer of Gursarain police station, were suspended on Tuesday, a day after a 62-year-old priest, arrested in connection with an alleged sexual harassment case (Pocso) involving a nine-year-old girl, died by suicide inside the police station.
SSP (Jhansi) BBGTS Murthy ordered the suspension of SHO Rajesh Kumar Dubey, sub-inspector Vineet Kumar and constables Rakesh Kumar and Anand Yadav for alleged negligence in connection with the custodial death. A departmental inquiry has also been ordered.
Police said a separate FIR was registered against two persons linked to the minor girl’s family on allegations of abetment to suicide. The circumstances surrounding the case are being investigated.
The deceased, Rajendra Prasad Dwivedi, a priest at a local temple, was brought to Gursarain police station on Sunday for questioning following a complaint by the parents of a nine-year-old girl alleging sexual harassment.
According to police, Dwivedi’s body was found hanging from the grill of a toilet window inside the station on Monday morning. He was rushed to Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi for treatment but died during treatment.
Following the incident, additional police personnel were deployed in Singar village, where the deceased lived, amid tension and the gathering of local residents.
Dwivedi’s elder son, Vinay, however, rejected the allegations against his father and claimed that the complaint was false and fabricated. He alleged that the complainant’s family had been eyeing a large tract of temple land where his father served as priest.
Vinay also claimed that his father had objected only when the nine-year-old girl was allegedly plucking flowers from the temple garden, and denied that he had sexually harassed her.
A large number of villagers gathered after news of Dwivedi’s death spread, prompting the deployment of additional police personnel in the area.
The suspension of the four policemen and the departmental inquiry come amid questions over the circumstances in which the elderly accused took the extreme step while in police custody. The police said further action would depend on the findings of the ongoing investigation.
