Jaipur, Apr 14 (PTI) A man, detained for questioning in a case of theft involving sacks of cluster beans, died at a police station in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan, police said on Monday, even as his kin alleged he was beaten up which caused his demise.

Taking action in the matter, Superintendent of Police Sharad Chowdhary shunted all 33 staffers of the Khetri police station, including its station house officer (SHO), to the police lines.

The family members of the deceased and several locals have begun a dharna outside the police station, demanding the officials responsible for the death of 28-year-old Pappu Ram Meena be booked and arrested. They also demanded adequate compensation for the family of the deceased.

SHO Gopal Lal Jangid was the investigating officer of the case registered on February 28.

Police said Meena was detained on Sunday, and during questioning, he suddenly fell sick and started vomiting. “He fell unconscious and was taken to a government hospital where he was declared dead,” an official said.

However, his family claimed that police thrashed him during questioning, leading to his death. Pappu Ram’s brother Kalu Ram claimed that he was detained three days ago and was kept under illegal detention.

“I was not allowed to meet him. I even took an advocate to the police station to meet my brother, but the SHO said that I would get a message from the police station to come and meet Pappu,” he said.

The superintendent of police said that the post-mortem had not been conducted yet, and officers were talking to the family members to resolve the issue. PTI SDA NSD NSD