6 policemen suspended for allegedly thrashing tractor driver fatally in Rajasthan's Tonk district

Six policemen including a station house officer were suspended Tuesday for allegedly thrashing a tractor driver fatally in Rajasthan's Tonk district on May 28, a senior police officer said.

Uniara Police Station in-charge Manish Charan, head constable Rajesh and constables Bhagwan Gurjar, Sanwara Jat, Ramavtar and Laksmichand were suspended, Tonk district SP Chunaram Jat told news agency PTI.

On Tuesday night, the 30-year-old driver, Bhajanlal, was allegedly transporting gravel, bajri, illegally when the police gave him a chase in Laxmipura under Nagar fort police station area.

On Wednesday, two state legislators began a sit-in protest alleging that Bhajanlal was beaten to death by the policemen.

The police had, however, said it was a case of accidental death.

Congress leader Harish Meena, who represents Deoli-Uniara constituency of Tonk district, began the protest in Nagar fort with his demands and he was later joined by BJP Jahazpur lawmaker Gopi Chand Meena.

They converted their protest into indefinite hunger strike on Saturday after their demands were not met.

Earlier, Tonk collector RC Dhenwal had announced a compensation of Rs. 13 lakh to the family of the deceased.

He had also said murder charges would be slapped against the accused policemen and a CID probe would be carried out in the matter.

Following the state government's assurances, the two lawmakers called off their protest on Monday. However, they restarted their protest on Tuesday accusing the administration of changing the members of a medical board conducting the postmortem of the body.

The MLAs had demanded a government job for the driver's kin, Rs. 25 lakh compensation, lodging murder cases against the policemen, their suspension and a CID probe.

-PTI