On September 10, Altaf Sheikh, 22, suspect in a house break-in, died in the custody of the Ghatkopar police. The police claimed a drug overdose, but a medical examination revealed external injuries.

On October 31, Ashutosh Tiwari, 25, a suspect in a murder, slashed his throat and died at Nala Sopara police’s lockup.

The High Court has ordered a CBI probe into Sheikh’s death and suspended three policemen till the investigation is over; the CID is probing Tiwari’s death and has begun questioning a police officer.

Newsline tracked police officers whose names have been connected to custody deaths in the past few years and they spoke of the complexities involved in such cases, the trauma of a post-custody death inquiry, and procedural flaws in the system. In many cases, such officers have shunned field work for “safer” desk jobs.

On May 9, 2007, a group of policemen from Mahim had tried to avert a communal clash at Kapad Bazar and arrested a drunken 60-year-old man, a Muslim, on charges of assaulting a woman vendor, a Hindu. Mohamed Sheikh died in custody; the post-mortem revealed a head injury. The policemen were left facing a rigorous inquiry in addition to protests by religious and political groups.

“He was a habitual drinker and a drug addict and the same people who accused us of killing him used to complain about his drunken behaviour inside the mosque. But after he died, he became the martyr and we became murderers,” said a police sub-inspector.

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