Thaindian News

Jind (Haryana), June 26 (IANS) A day after a 20-year-old Dalit youth was found dead, there was drama outside a hospital in this Haryana district Sunday as his relatives refused to take away his body and forced officials to order a second autopsy, police said.

Pardeep, a farm worker, was found dead Saturday in Amaravati Kheda village. The autopsy report said he died due to consumption of poison.

He was working in the fields of Tek Ram for the last five years.

“Tek Ram had accused Pardeep of stealthily seeing his daughter-in-law while she was bathing. He and his family members called Pardeep’s brother Tejbir and got an apology signed on a paper,” said a police officer.

However, Tejbir filed a written complaint with police Sunday saying that Pardeep was killed by four members of Tek Ram’s family, including two women.

In his complaint, Tejbir said: “Rajesh Kumar, Karan Singh, Suman and Phoolpati (family members of Tek Ram) killed Pardeep by beating him with sticks and batons.”

“They later put a poisonous substance in Pradeep’s mouth to misguide police. Therefore we reject the post-mortem report and want another round of it,” the complaint said.

Jind administration accepted the demand of villagers and relatives of Pardeep and ordered a second autopsy, to be held in the presence of senior officials.

Apart from a murder case, police have registered a case under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against Rajesh and Karan Singh.

“The post-mortem was done for the second time and we are waiting for the report,” Jind district police chief Ashok Kumar told IANS.