Agnello Valdaris’ father demands GRP cops be tried for murder

The father of 24-year-old Agnello Valdaris, who died in the custody of Wadala government railway police (GRP) in April 2014, has demanded the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charge the eight accused GRP officers with murder instead of negligence .

Valdaris was detained along with his three friends, including a minor, in a theft case and the state recently approved punitive action against three of the eight accused.

While the cops claimed that a Valdaris had attempted to run away and was run over by a local train then, his father Leonardo said it was a cold-blooded murder and there was no reason for his son to have committed suicide. “If Agnello would have come under a train, his body would have been smashed but nothing of that sort happened. There was a hole in his chest and I feel that he was tortured to death by the police. I met him a day before his death when he was hospitalised, that time he told me that he was tortured,” said Leonardo.

The three GRP cops— head constable Suresh Mane and constables Vikas Suryavanshi and Satyajit Kamble — have been booked for kidnapping, falsifying evidence, negligence and wrongful confinement under the IPC. After state’s approval, the CBI shall also be filing a charge sheet against them under POCSO Act as one of them was a minor.

A high-level CBI source said, “We have investigated the case thoroughly and if we get any evidence of murder then we wouldn’t wait, like we didn’t for POCSO.” The three others detained were Mohommad Irfan, Sufiyan Khan and a minor. They were allegedly hung upside down, beaten up and the officials inserted lathis in their private parts.