The deaths of two Assistant Sub Inspectors of the Punjab Police, who’re suspected to have died by suicide after a juvenile accused in a homicide case escaped from their custody, have left their households in shock and the police division looking for solutions.
The incident befell on October 7, when ASIs Pritam Das (54) and Jeevan Lal (56) have been taking two juveniles again to a juvenile residence in Hoshiarpur after a court docket look in Kapurthala. Once they reached Adampur in Jalandhar district, one of many juveniles, who’s accused in a homicide case, allegedly escaped from the police automobile. Each Das and Lal then gave chase, however once they couldn’t discover him, they purportedly consumed poison at Adampur railway station, police mentioned.
“Based on preliminary investigations, ASI Pritam Das bought one Celphos pill, a extremely poisonous pesticide, from a retailer… close to Adampur railway station. CCTV footage confirms this. After leaving the store, ASI Das returned and requested for another pill, claiming his farmland required extra. He bought the tablets at round 4.50 pm. Later, at round 8.30 pm, Railway Station Grasp Naresh Raju found the our bodies of the officers close to one aspect of the station,” mentioned HPS Khak, SSP Rural, Jalandhar. He additionally mentioned that the railway station was over one kilometre from the spot the place the juvenile had fled.
Each the ASIs had joined Punjab Police in 1992, and accomplished greater than 32 years of service.
ASI Das, from village Kanga in Hoshiarpur district’s Dasuya sub division, was posted at Tanda police station in Hoshiarpur. His spouse, Savita Rani, was struggling to grasp what had occurred. “He informed me he would come again. I can not consider he’s gone,” she mentioned.
Das, who was cremated Friday with full police honours, has two youngsters based mostly in Canada – a son who went there as a scholar and not too long ago obtained everlasting residency, and a daughter who moved there for research simply eight months in the past. Each have returned to carry out their father’s final rites.
Das’s brother-in-law Amrik Singh remembered him as a kind-hearted man who was beloved in the neighborhood.
“So many individuals got here from the encompassing villages to pay their respects,” Singh mentioned. Based on him, Das had expressed a want to take voluntary retirement final yr, citing well being points like diabetes as nicely rising pressures of the job. “However his daughter had gone to Canada for research not too long ago, and he needed to help her for another yr,” mentioned Amrik Singh.
A member of the family who didn’t need to be recognized mentioned Das had spoken about his struggles with work strain up to now. “The strain on police personnel is immense, and that day, when the accused escaped, he could not have been capable of deal with it,” the relative mentioned.
ASI Jeevan Lal’s household referred to as for a police investigation into “each angle”. Lal was from Hoshiarpur’s Bassi Kalana village, and was posted at Sadar police station in Hoshiarpur.
“We would like the police to probe each angle, together with the potential of foul play,” a member of the family mentioned.
On the day of the incident, a celebration of three police personnel, together with the 2 ASIs and one driver from Hoshiarpur, have been liable for transporting two juveniles – each 17 – from the juvenile residence in Hoshiarpur to the District Courtroom in Kapurthala.
One of many juveniles was booked in a homicide case (beneath sections 302, 506, 427, 148, 149, 120-B of IPC), whereas the opposite was charged beneath the POCSO Act.
Whereas the police automobile made its approach again to Hoshiarpur following the court docket proceedings, one of many juveniles, seated with the opposite accused and one of many ASIs within the rear seat, managed to flee. He did this by leaping out of the automobile on the freeway close to Adampur’s predominant bus stand, the place site visitors jams are frequent and the automobile got here to a halt.
ASIs Das and Lal instantly began chasing him on foot after instructing the motive force to safe the second accused with a belt within the automobile earlier than speeding to Adampur police station.
“Each ASIs then borrowed a bike from a passerby and looked for the juvenile for about 45 minutes. Once they did not seize him, they reportedly took excessive measures,” SSP Khak mentioned.
Khak mentioned the officers had been informed by authorities on the juvenile residence that the juvenile had tried to flee from custody a number of occasions up to now. “When the officers have been transporting the accused from the Hoshiarpur Juvenile Dwelling, they have been cautioned by the jailer to make sure correct custody, because the accused had tried to flee from the jail thrice up to now,” Khak mentioned.
The Adampur police have registered a case towards the escaped juvenile. They’re additionally coordinating with the Authorities Railway Police (GRP) to hold out formal investigations into the deaths of the 2 ASIs.
SHO of GRP police station, Jalandhar, Inspector Palwinder Singh, informed The Indian Specific {that a} autopsy was performed and the report would are available a few weeks.
Sources on the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, the place the autopsy was performed, mentioned that prima facie, it appeared that the 2 had consumed a toxic substance.
A senior police officer mentioned on the situation of anonymity that the deaths may have been the results of work-related stress and worry of disciplinary motion. “The precise causes behind the officers’ drastic actions are nonetheless beneath investigation, however preliminary experiences counsel that they might have been overwhelmed by work-related stress and the worry of dealing with disciplinary motion for permitting the accused to flee,” the senior officer mentioned.
