Accused in Salman Khan's house firing incident dies in custody, family appeals to HC

NEW DELHI: The family of Anuj Thapan, who died while in police custody following his arrest in the case related to firing outside Bollywood superstar Salman Khan's house here, has moved the Bombay High Court seeking a CBI probe into his death.

While the police claim Thapan killed himself in the lock-up, his mother Rita Devi in her petition filed in the HC on Friday alleged foul play and claimed he was killed.

In the plea, which will come up for hearing in due course, Devi sought the HC to direct the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the death of her son.

The petition alleged Thapan was physically assaulted and tortured by police in custody.

It also sought the high court to direct the police to hand over CCTV footage of the police station and the lock-up where Thapan was held.

The petitioner requested for the preservation of call data records (CDR) of police officials, who are probing the firing incident, from April 24 to May 2.

It also sought directions for a fresh post-mortem in Thapan's death.

Four persons, - Thapan, Sonu Bishnoi, alleged shooters Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta - had been arrested in connection with the firing incident, while gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his brother Anmol Bishnoi have been shown as wanted accused, as per police.

Thapan, accused of supplying firearms and bullets for the firing incident, was arrested on April 26 from Punjab along with Sonu Bishnoi and was remanded to police custody till April 30.

Meanwhile, the police invoked provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) in the case.

On April 29, the police produced all the four accused, including Thapan, before a special court which remanded them to police custody till May 8.

Thapan was found dead in the toilet of lock-up of the crime branch in the commissionerate complex at Crawford Market here on May 1.

On April 14, two motorbike-borne persons opened fire outside Salman Khan's residence in Bandra area of Mumbai.

Gupta and Pal were later arrested from Gujarat.