Bihar Cops Under Scanner Over Suspicious Deaths of Minor, Activist

Video Editor: Vivek Gupta
Video Producer: Shadab Moizee & Srishti Tyagi

In Bihar's Begusarai, two back-to-back deaths have raised quite a few questions on the police force. Vikram Poddar, a resident of Begusarai, was accused of abducting a girl. Later, the police arrested him in Delhi and brought him back to Bihar.

But the very next day of his arrest, Poddar was found dead inside the police station premises. He was found hanging in one of the rooms at the station.

However, the case grabbed eyeballs when Santosh Kumar, a social worker from Begusarai who was seeking an investigation into Vikram’s case, was also found dead.

Santosh Questioned the Police in a Facebook Post

Before Santosh’s death, he had written a post on Facebook demanding justice for Vikram. He wrote that if the boy does not get justice, he and his companions will break the lockdown and protest. After this, the police took Santosh into custody.

Before his death, Santosh had said:

“I was targeted because I raised my voice against this... two arrest warrants were sent to me. I was coming back home after withdrawing money from the ATM when they abducted me and hit me for two hours. They did not hit me at the police station but dragged me into the jungle behind the station. This was because I had posted about Vikram’s death. It was all under political pressure. But I had support, which is why they released me.”

Santosh Kumar Sharma, Social Activist

However, the police denied the allegations. Santosh's family alleges that his treatment in the hospital was also allowed to be done on the condition that they do not register any case against the police.

‘Police and the Girl’s Family Killed Vikram’

“Both had eloped from the village and reached Delhi. They rented a flat in Srinivaspuri village near Okhla. The Bihar police and lady cops found them. There was a ruckus on the 24th, saying they killed the boy. They said that Vikram committed suicide after the girl changed her statement but it’s not true”.

Vikram Poddar’s brother

SP Avkash Kumar says that it was a case of abduction. They were found in Delhi and brought back. The boy was the accused but was a minor so they kept him. The girl, too, was taken in for a statement.

When asked as to how the boy reached the police station’s staffroom despite being in custody the SP said, “He had gone to the washroom and hung himself in a room. The room was locked from inside. We have the entire video recording. We had to break open the room. We showed the entire recording to the special team. This was definitely a suicide”.

Vikram's Family Questions Police's Theory

But Vikram's family is questioning the police's theory. Vikram's father Dukha Poddar says that the police killed and hanged their child with a rope in the police station.

“They hung my child on the 24th. Had he hung himself, how would his feet touch the floor? His feet were touching the floor, which means the girl’s father along with others beat my child and hung him”.  

Vikram’s sister-in-law

Vikram's family is demanding a CBI inquiry into the case. Currently, the police are denying any conspiracy in the deaths of Santosh and Vikram.