SRINAGAR: A 27-year-old man died under mysterious circumstances after he was allegedly beaten up by police, sparking protests by his relatives and neighbours here on Monday, official sources said.
Quoting sources, local agency KNO reported that Shubham Sharma, a resident of the Bantalab locality on the outskirts of Jammu, was playing cricket near his house when a police party raided the area in search of drug traffickers on Sunday evening. Sharma’s family alleged he was detained and severely beaten up by the cops before they left the spot.
He was rushed to the hospital where he died, the family said, adding the body was lying at the hospital’s mortuary for postmortem.
The family, relatives, and locals of the area this afternoon staged a protest alleging that he had been ‘murdered’ and the culprits should be booked as per the law.
The protestors shouted anti-police slogans and demanded a probe into the matter, besides a government job for one of the family members of the deceased along with compensation.
Senior police and administrative officers rushed to the spot to pacify the protesters and assured them a fair investigation into the incident.
The Jammu district administration has ordered a magisterial probe and a post-mortem of the deceased by a board of doctors to ascertain the cause of death.
“We have ordered a probe and will also look into the provision of compensation to the family as it was claimed that the deceased was the lone bread earner of the family,” said a civil administration official on the spot—(KNO)