Agra A case was registered against the incharge of New Agra police station, chowki incharge and 8 to 10 other policemen in connection with the death of a lawyer who was found dead after falling from the eighth floor of an apartment on Friday night. The incharge of New Agra police station and police chowki in charge were suspended after lawyers staged a protest at the civil court on Saturday.
The case was registered under Section 147 (rioting), 302 (murder), 201 (destroying evidence), 342 (wrongful conviction), 427 (causing mischief), 504 (intentional insult) of the Indian Penal Code at Sikandra police station of Agra on Saturday night on the complaint lodged by Sunita Sharma, wife of deceased lawyer Sunil Sharma.
The accused include Rajeev Singh, incharge of New Agra police station, Anurag Singh, the police outpost incharge and 8 to 10 other policemen. Rajeev Singh and Anurag Singh have been suspended by the Agra police commissioner.
The complainant Sunita Sharma alleged that police had assured her husband to call him whenever required in case no. 44 of 2024 lodged by one Manoj Sharma against a number of lawyers. The deceased lawyer was a named accused in the case wherein Manoj Sharma had alleged that he was asked by lawyers on gunpoint to transfer his property.
Sunita Sharma alleged that policemen barged into her flat no. 801 on Friday night and dragged her husband to a nearby flat no. 802. After convicting him wrongly there, they allegedly threw the lawyer to death from the eighth floor.
A CCTV footage going viral shows lawyer Sunil Sharma falling on the ground from a height but it could not cover the place from where the lawyer was thrown.
Following the incident, lawyers staged a protest on Saturday, demanding a fair investigation and action against the police officials.
However, the Agra police distanced itself from the incident and claimed that the police had gone to the apartment of the accused but returned upon being informed about his absence.
“New Agra police had gone to the apartment where accused Sunil Kumar Sharma was residing. He was named as an accused in a crime case registered at New Agra police station. The police team returned on being informed by the wife of the accused that he was not at home,” Suraj Rai, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), said.
“While the police team was returning, the guard at the apartment building was informed that a loud thud was heard and the police team found Sunil Sharma in a critically injured condition. He was rushed to SN Medical College, where he was pronounced dead,” the DSP said.
Meanwhile, lawyers in the civil court disagreed with the police’s theory and staged a massive protest on MG Road on Saturday afternoon, coming face to face with police at the gates of the court. Questioning the raid at Sunil Sharma’s house at midnight, lawyers blamed the police and termed it as ‘murder’. They demanded a judicial probe into the matter and decided to abstain from work until the judicial probe was ordered.
In a meeting held on Sunday, lawyer members of ”Janmanch” asserted that their agitation would continue until the guilty policemen were sent behind bars.
“We will hold another meeting on Monday at civil court and a dharna (protest sit in) will be organized against the lawyer’s murder. We will draft a strategy to push forward the agitation against Agra police,” said Chaudhary Ajay Singh and Lochan Chaudhary, president, Agra Advocate Association.