TOI
The action followed allegations by farmer leader Digvijay Bhati, president of the BR Ambedkar faction of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and a Samajwadi Party functionary, and his associate Mohit Jatav that senior officers and special operations group (SOG) personnel assaulted them for hours after they visited the SSP’s office on Wednesday seeking removal of their names from an FIR linked to a July 8 protest. Bhati alleged that after the assault at the SSP’s office, SOG personnel took him and Jatav to an undisclosed location, subjected them to repeated beatings, casteist slurs and degrading treatment, and kept them in custody for close to 12 hours.
He named Civil Lines inspector Akhilesh Gaur as having led that phase of the alleged assault, while Jatav said the beatings left his legs swollen and affected his hearing. Meerut police initially denied the allegations on X and claimed Bhati and Jatav suffered their injuries in a scooter accident after leaving the police station, but deleted the post within hours.
Meerut : A day after eight Meerut police personnel were called back in police lines following the allegations of custodial torture by now-shunted IPS officer Avinash Pandey, previously Meerut SSP, the SHO Civil Lines, who was also shunted, has been suspended by the newly- appointed Meerut SSP BBGTS Murthy. Earlier, Civil Lines SHO, two sub-inspectors and five constables were recalled to police lines after SSP Pandey was attached to state headquarters in Lucknow. Notably, the deletion came before the ADG ordered the fast-track inquiry and around the time authorities attached Pandey to Lucknow, deepening scrutiny of how police had handled the two men and their complaints.
ADG, Meerut zone, Bhanu Bhaskar , also ordered a high-level inquiry under DIG, Saharanpur range, Abhishek Singh , who reached Meerut on Friday evening. Bhati, who was hospitalised on Saturday, released video footage showing a badly swollen eye and extensive bruising and alleged: “The SSP repeatedly kicked me in my eyes with his shoes, damaging my eye.