A 28-year-old accused arrested in a theft case died in a civic hospital after he complained of chest pain, while in custody of the police in Borivali on Monday morning. The police claimed that the accused was not tortured and he might have died due to a cardiac arrest.
Hemant Kumar Jain was arrested by the police on May 10 and has been in police custody since.
He was arrested along with a gang of three persons hailing from Rajasthan for car thefts and house breakings in Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
“We had conducted a proper medical check-up of Jain on Saturday. Since then he was kept in the lock up and was not interrogated by the police. He might have died due to cardiac arrest,” said deputy commissioner of police, Zone XI, Sanjay Banerjee,
According to Mr Banerjee, Jain complained of breathlessness and pain in his chest at around 11.30 am.
“He was immediately shifted to Ward no.11 of the Bhagwati Hospital where he died. He was not tortured by the police and the post-mortem reports are awaited,” added Mr Banerjee.
A panchanama in this regard will be conducted in presence of a magistrate. Jain’s family is in Rajasthan and the police said that they have been informed of his death.
Jain was arrested along with his accomplices Bharat Jain (31), a resident of Madhya Pradesh, Hasan alias Pintu Khan (25) and Bhanwarlal Bhil (28) all residents of Rajasthan.
The police was tipped off about Jain and the other gang members coming to the city on May 10. The Kandivali police arrested them after a trap was laid and every suspicious car was checked.
The accused were remanded to police custody till May 17.
The police claimed that they are part of an inter-state gang involved in stealing cars.
The police has seized four Mahindra Bolero jeeps, which were in their possession.
The arrested accused had confessed that they were involved in housebreaking cases in Rajasthan, Mumbai and Madhya Pradesh, the police said.
According to the police, the gang also carried
out thefts in Diva and Kalyan.