In the case of Agnelo Valdaris’s death in custody, eight Mumbai cops will stand trial for murder

Eight police officers assigned to the Wadala Government Railway Police (GRP) station in Mumbai will be charged with his murder eight years after he died in custody.

Special POCSO judge Jayshri R Pulate granted Valdaris’ family’s request to charge the police officers with murder, a charge that was also opposed by the CBI, which investigated the case. The central agency had maintained that there was no evidence to support the murder charge.

“The material on record in the form of statements of witnesses, postmortem report, copies of station diaries and the memorandum of the scene of the offence, reveals that prima facie it is the case where charge under Section 302 (murder), 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the IPC can be framed,” said the court while allowing the plea.

Jitendra Rathod, Archana Pujari, Shatrugan Tondse, Tushar Khairnar, Ravindra Mane, Suresh Mane, Vikas Suryawanshi, and Satyajit Kamble are among the eight police officers charged with murder.

The Wadala GRP allegedly tortured and sexually abused Agnelo and three others on April 18, 2014, according to the prosecution case. The four men were apprehended by police from their homes on April 15 and 16, suspected of involvement in chain snatching.

They were taken to the GRP station and allegedly beaten up before being questioned about where they kept a gold chain and a ring suspected of being stolen by them. Agnello allegedly died as a result of torture while in police custody, and a first information report (FIR) was filed against the personnel involved, who were assigned to the Wadala GRP.

Acting on his father’s petition, the Bombay High Court transferred the case to the CBI, which filed a charge-sheet against the eight police officers on December 3, 2016, invoking provisions of the Indian Penal Code as well as relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The charges brought against them, however, did not include murder.

Acting on a separate petition filed by the victim’s father, the high court later directed the CBI to file a murder charge in the case. The order was challenged before the Supreme Court, which directed the trial court to make a decision after hearing from all parties involved, including the victim’s family, the accused, and the prosecution.