Man who ‘stole from Hanuman temple’ dies by ‘suicide’ in police station in Gujarat

“The head constable conducting an enquiry against Parmar noted that the suspect was not where he was asked to sit. He immediately checked the bathroom and found Parmar hanging. He was given CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) and an ambulance was called. As his pulse was detected, he was rushed to a hospital but doctors pronounced him dead,” said Ravi Godham, police inspector (PI) in-charge of Dhoraji police station, to The Indian Express on Monday.

The PI said that Parmar’s death came two days after he was handed over to people by a group of people on Friday. “One Sandeep Gohil, a resident of Dhoraji, complained that Parmar had lifted tongs and other articles from the temple in the Kadiyavad area,” Godham said.

“Parmar had a habit of drinking and committing petty theft to purchase liquor. During his questioning by Dhoraji police, he didn’t get to drink and could have taken the extreme step because of this,” the PI claimed.

He said that Parmar had been detained on August 28 in connection with a case of theft of mobile phones and cash, registered at Bhavnath police station in Junagadh. “We had also seized two mobile phones, believed to be stolen, from him. After that, we handed him over to Bhavnath police station. Apparently, he got bail in that case, returned to Dhoraji and attempted theft in the Hanuman temple,” said Godham.

Later on Friday, Dhoraji police had handed Parmar to his maternal uncle Jayantilal Vinjuda, who reportedly brought him back on Saturday and Sunday for questioning per instructions. Police said that Parmar used to live alone as his parents were no more and his wife had also become estranged from him.

The PI said that CCTV cameras inside the police station have recorded Parmar’s movement and that an inquest was done by a sub-divisional magistrate of Dhoraji in the presence of Parmar’s family.