Railway police assault retd Air Force officer in Nileshwar; leg amputated, complaint filed

Nileshwar / Mangaluru: "It felt like something was freezing inside my leg when the police struck with the lathi. That pain spread throughout my body the entire day. Now, my left leg..." P.V. Sureshan could not finish his sentence and sighed deeply. The 49-year-old retired Air Force officer from Nileshwar lost his left leg after being brutally beaten by the Railway Police at Mangaluru Railway Station.

On February 1, Sureshan had gone to the military canteen in Mangaluru to buy some items. After arriving at the railway station around 5:30 PM, he felt unwell and lied down on a bench. It was then that a police officer approached and told him that he could not lie there. Unable to move due to his condition, Sureshan remained there and eventually fell asleep.

Later, the police officer returned and allegedly thrashed Sureshan's leg violently with a lathi after seeing that he had not obeyed the order to leave the station. Sureshan lost consciousness, and when he regained around 8:30 PM, he informed his daughter, Hridya, that he was in pain and unable to move. Hridya immediately contacted the Railway Police and the Mangaluru Police Station.

Upon investigation, the Railway Police found Sureshan unconscious at the station and took him to the hospital. His family arrived later and took him home. However, since his leg was swollen, they brought him to a hospital in Nileshwar, where doctors found the injury to be severe and advised immediate expert treatment. It was then that Sureshan revealed he had been beaten by the police.

Sureshan was then rushed to a private hospital in Mangaluru, where tests revealed that his kidney had been damaged due to the assault. The doctors informed him that the only option was to amputate his left leg. Emergency surgery was performed, and dialysis was required to restore kidney function. Hridya filed a complaint at the Mangaluru Police Station. However, the family claims that the police visited the hospital three times but did nothing further, merely gathering information and leaving.

Meanwhile, the Mangaluru Railway Protection Force (RPF) denied the allegations of assault. They stated that CCTV footage did not show any evidence of an assault and mentioned that a video recorded at 10:39 AM showed Sureshan walking out of the platform without any issues.