**Mumbai: Two Police Officials Convicted for Custodial Torture Leading to Detainee’s Death**
In a rare verdict, the special CBI court on Tuesday convicted two police officials for custodial torture that resulted in the death of detainee Altaf Shaikh on September 11, 2009. The two officers have been sentenced to seven years in jail and fined Rs 62,000 each, with Rs 1 lakh to be paid as compensation to Shaikh’s mother.
### Accused Officers and Case Background
The convicted policemen are Sanjay Khedekar, 55, and Raghunath Kolekar, 62. A third accused, Sayaji Thombare, passed away in 2023 before the trial could be completed. Notably, Khedekar and Kolekar were never arrested after the case was registered since the offence under Section 330 of the Indian Penal Code (voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession or to compel restoration of property) was bailable.
### Court Observations
The court acquitted the accused of murder charges, observing that Shaikh’s death was natural, caused by respiratory failure due to combined effects of Alprazolam and ethyl alcohol toxicity, along with lung pneumonia. However, the court accepted that Shaikh was subjected to assault while in custody.
### Incident Details
According to the CBI investigation, Shaikh, a professional driver with previous theft charges and externed to Jalna, was visited at his home around 4 a.m. on September 11, 2009, by Khedekar (police sub-inspector), Kolekar (head constable), and Thombare (police naik). It is alleged that all three officers assaulted Shaikh at his residence and on the road before taking him to Ghatkopar police station in an auto-rickshaw.
By approximately 9 a.m., Shaikh was found unresponsive and rushed to Rajawadi Hospital, where he was declared brought dead.
### Investigation and Legal Proceedings
Shaikh’s mother, Mehrunissa Kadir Shaikh, approached the Bombay High Court, seeking a CBI inquiry into her son’s death. On October 16, 2009, the court directed the CBI to investigate the case. However, it was only in November 2013, following a magistrate court’s order, that charges of murder and voluntarily causing hurt to extort confession were formally added.
### Witnesses and Medical Findings
CBI prosecutors Sunil Gonsalves and Abhijeet Sarnobat examined 29 witnesses, including Shaikh’s mother, sister, and others who witnessed the police assault. Interestingly, the inquest panchnama recorded no external injuries on Shaikh’s body.
The post-mortem report, however, revealed death due to drug-alcohol toxicity, contusion on the scalp with hemorrhage, and pneumonia associated with fatty liver.
Dr. Gajanan Chavan testified that the scalp injury might have been caused by a hard and blunt object and, alone, was sufficient to cause death in the absence of other factors. He also noted that Alprazolam and alcohol taken together could be fatal.
Another expert, Dr. Bhalchandra Gopianth Chikhalkar, stated that the cause of death was acute toxicity combined with contusion of the scalp, with the injury alone potentially fatal.
### Expert Opinion and Court’s Decision
An expert opinion from AIIMS, New Delhi, suggested that death could be due to respiratory failure stemming from the combined drug toxicity and lung pneumonia.
Given the conflicting medical opinions, the court extended the benefit of doubt to the accused officers but affirmed that Shaikh was assaulted in police custody, sustaining unexplained injuries.
### Family’s Response
Following the verdict, Shaikh’s mother expressed her intention to appeal for a harsher punishment. She described the ordeal as a difficult time, balancing household work with frequent court appearances alongside her daughter.
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https://www.freepressjournal.in/mumbai/mumbai-custodial-death-case-special-cbi-court-convicts-2-policemen-for-torturing-detainee-sentences-them-to-7-years-in-jail
