Kin allege foul play in youth's death, stage protest in Una

Our Correspondent

Una, May 7

The post-mortem of Amit Kumar, a youth who died under mysterious circumstances at a drug de-addiction centre, was conducted at the Tanda Medical college today. His relatives staged a protest at his native Gondpur Banehda village when the police reached there to handover the body to them.

Situation normal

The CCTV camera footage does not point towards violence at the centre. The body has been given to the family members after autopsy. Some residents staged a protest, but the situation is normal now. — Praveen Dhiman, Additional SP

As per the complaint to the police by Jagdish Ram, deceased’s father, his son was addicted to drugs. On April 21, he handed over Amit in the care of Rahul, manager of Nav Chetna Centre, a drug de-addiction centre, in Badehda village.

He had deposited a sum of Rs 18,000 as fee at the centre. On the night of May 5, Rahul, along with four persons including two women, came to his house with the body of Amit, saying that he had died in the centre. Jagdish said his son had injury marks on his body and he suspected foul play by the staff and management of the de-addiction centre.

Additional Superintendent of Police Praveen Dhiman said a case under Section 304-A of the IPC has been registered and investigations are in progress. He said the forensic examination of the body was being done at the police lab in Dharamsala and the exact cause of death will be known only after the autopsy report is available.

The ASP said the manager of the de-addiction centre has said the youth had died due to a heart attack. As regards the injury marks, the ASP said some marks appeared old, while there were also some fresh injury marks on the body.

Praveen Dhiman said the CCTV footage does not point towards any violence inside the centre, but the future course of investigations will be decided only after the autopsy report is received. He said the body was today handed over to the family members, adding that the local residents did stage some protest, but the situation now was normal.