As the woman lay dead in front of them, the cops reportedly tried to escape.
An elderly woman died after being allegedly hit with a rifle butt by a group of six policemen in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly. The cops had reportedly gone to 60-year-old Kalawati's home to arrest her grandson Sooraj who has been on the run in a case for his wife's alleged dowry death. When they couldn't find Sooraj at home, the angry cops purportedly began to break things. As the woman objected to their behaviour, they allegedly hit her in the chest with their rifles.
The injured woman couldn't take the assault and threw up blood before she died. As she lay dead in front of them, the cops reportedly tried to escape but the villagers who got to know about her alleged murder, surrounded the policemen and beat them up. However, as soon as their colleagues were informed about the incident, they reached the site and resorted to lathicharge to disperse the crowd.
They rescued the cops and filed an FIR against them. All six of them have been suspended and a case has also been registered under section 302 for murder, a senior police officer said. The woman's body has been sent for postmortem and the report is awaited.
The woman's granddaughter Yogesh Kumari, who is the prime witness in the case, said, "They came and enquired about Sooraj. His in-laws had filed a complaint against Sooraj. When my grandmother told them he wasn't at home they got angry and hit her with their rifle. She died within minutes."
Bareilly SSP Jogender Kumar admitted that there has been negligence on the cops' part. "An elderly woman has died and the villagers allege that she was killed during a scuffle. We have, however, taken immediate action against the policemen named by the villagers. They should know how to deal with people. We have also written to the district magistrate to look into the matter."