Police said the three, including a few aged between 35 and 28, died by suicide. The three were repeatedly called to a police headquarters and allegedly tortured within the case of theft filed by the owner of a house where one among them worked as a help.
Their post-mortem report suggested “suicidal hanging” and prompted police superintendent (South Goa) Pankaj Kumar Singh to order an inquiry.
The police have, however, denied that the suicides are associated with any pending investigation they were conducting and pointed to a suicide note they said they recovered from the house of the victims which has revealed some names and included names of relations .
“We had recovered a note written in Kannada which we've got translated. they need named some people liable for their suicide including some relations . Our investigation is on,” Singh said.
“The relations have now collected the body and brought it for cremation,” he added.
The relations had initially refused to receive the body after the postmortem and had demanded that a case be registered against the cops whom they accused of torturing the family.
National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations and Council for Social Justice and Peace, an NGO, has demanded the constitution of an independent time-bound commission of inquiry to seem into the matter.
In a statement, they said the in-charge of the concerned police headquarters and other officers, who were handling the case be suspended pending the inquiry. It added Kumar’s announcement for a search “smacks of wilful conspiracy to guard the police in uniform”.
No case has been registered against the cops accused of torturing the three.
