Lucknow, Oct 28 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday met the family members of trader Mohit Pandey who died in police custody due to alleged assault and announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for them, they said the officials.

The government will also take care of the education expenses of the children of the deceased, they said.

A resident of Jainabad in Lucknow’s Chinhat area, Pandey died at a hospital. His family members alleged that police brutality was the cause of his death, police said.

The incident triggered a major political furor, with the Samajwadi Party, Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party slamming the BJP government.

According to police, Pandey was rushed to a community health center after he felt unwell at the police station. From there he was sent to a larger facility where he died, they said.

However, Shobharam, the victim’s brother who claimed he was also briefly held in custody, alleged that the police beat Pandey “mercilessly” in front of him and sent him to hospital only after he died.

A CCTV clip surfaced on the internet on Sunday purportedly showing Pandey lying inside the jail. Family members of the deceased accused the police of deliberately leaking only a small part of the footage to save their backs, claiming that Pandey was beaten to death.

A detailed post-mortem report is awaited.

Following a ruckus, the authorities on Sunday filed an FIR against the police station personnel on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy. The head of the police station, among those booked, was suspended.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the term “police custody” should be changed to “torture house”, while Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra claimed the BJP had “set up such jungle raj in the state where the police have become synonymous with brutality’.

BSP chief Mayawati called the incident “highly condemnable” and said the government must take effective steps to provide justice to the victim’s family.

Pandey’s is the second case of alleged death in police custody in Lucknow this month. On October 11, a Dalit youth Aman Gautam, a resident of Vikas Nagar, died in police custody. Gautam’s death also triggered a political uproar. PTI KIS NSD NSD

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