Student beaten up by six policemen just because he mistook their call for prank

Udupi, Sep 6: In a fresh case of police brutality in Udupi district, two youths were beaten black and blue by the men in khaki inside a police station at Malple town over a trivial issue.

Mohammed Aweez, a student of MCom at Manipal Institute of Technology, has been hospitalized after he was attacked by a Sub Inspector and his five subordinates. His friend Sampath was also allegedly attacked by the cops.

According to the victims, the cops unleashed brutality on them just because they mistook two repeated phone calls from the police for prank and warned the caller not to play with them.

It is learnt that Sampath had purchased a second hand mobile phone from a person identified as Prasanna. Unfortunately it was a stolen mobile phone and police were trying to trace it.

On Saturday, September 5, Sampath received a call from an unsaved mobile number. The caller claimed himself to be a policeman and asked him to visit the police station. However, Sampath, who thought that one of his friends was trying to fool him, spoke rudely and cut the call.

After sometime, when Sampath was riding his motorbike, once again he received a call from the same strange number. He handed over his mobile phone to Aweez, who was riding pillion and requested him to deal with the unknown caller. Aweez also refused to believe the caller and reportedly scolded him.

The police considered the matter seriously and took Sampath into custody by tracking down his phone’s location. When Sampath was subjected to rigorous interrogation, he revealed that it was his friend Aweez who spoke rudely over phone.

After letting off Sampath, the cops summoned Aweez to the police station on Sunday morning. Even though the youth apologized and tried to convince the police that he mistook their call for prank, he was thrashed in the lock-up by six police personnel including SI Ravi Kumar, his family members said.

When his uncle, who had accompanied him to the station, tried to intervene, the police threatened him of dire consequences. However, Aweez was released at around 4 p.m. “They (police) have also threatened to book me in serious offences and prevent me from obtaining passport,” said Aweez, who is recovering at Ajjarkad government hospital.