A day after a Dalit man was allegedly beaten to death by Kaushambi police, the residents of Rajapur kept the victim’s body on the road and blocked the Lucknow route at traffic crossing on Thursday evening.

They alleged that the postmortem report of the victim, Nand Lal Pasi, has been manipulated. “There were several external injury marks yesterday on Nand Lal’s body. Today, the postmortem report suggests that there is no internal or external injury,” said Nand Lal’s brother-in-law Munshi Lal, who was with him when the incident unfolded. He, however, managed to escape.

“How can Nand Lal die without any injury or illness? This smacks of a deep conspiracy to hush up the matter in order to save their skin,” he added.

In the hour long blockade, the residents urged Chief Minister Mayawati to take the matter seriously and direct the police officers to arrest the accused police personnel. They suspended the agitation after the district administration assured that a fair inquiry would be conducted.

The state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, meanwhile, met Nand Lal’s family members.

Lambasting Mayawati, Joshi said: “It’s a blot on a Dalit chief minister. A Dalit is openly beaten to death by the police and the administration is involved in hushing up the matter. Even women are not safe under her administration.” She met the deputy inspector general of police and demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.

On Wednesday late night, the Superintendent of Police of Kaushambi district, RK Bhardwaj, suspended Sub-Inspector Sail Kumar Singh and three constables, accused of Nand Lal’s murder.

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