Mumbai: A 35-year-old man, identified as Somnath Vyankat Suryawanshi, died in Parbhani district jail early today (December 15). Suryawanshi, a law student, was visiting his family in Parbhani’s Shastri Nagar when he was detained along with 50 other Dalit Bahujan youths for their alleged involvement in the violence that erupted in the city following the desecration of the constitution’s replica on December 10.
Suryawanshi, who belonged to the Wadar community, a Nomadic Tribe (NT) in Maharashtra, was sent to judicial custody on December 14, and within hours, he died in Parbhani district jail.
According to the special inspector general (IG) of Nanded range, Shahaji Umap, who is overseeing the investigation, Suryawanshi was moved to the civil hospital in Parbhani after he complained of “chest pain.”
“He suddenly complained of chest pain, and we moved him from Parbhani jail to the hospital. He died in the hospital,” Umap claimed over a phone call. When asked about the alleged torture and the complaints that have been emerging en masse since the police launched their combing operation across Dalit Bahujan bastis in Parbhani, Umap said, “Suryawanshi was not tortured.” A few minutes after the phone call ended, Umap called back to stress that Suryawanshi belonged to “a Nomadic Tribe and was not from the Dalit community”. “Please mention he is not Dalit in your story,” he told this reporter.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.