Bokaro/Dhanbad, Oct. 21: The CBI has blamed the Bokaro police, including its deputy superintendent, for a 17-year-old tribal boy’s death that sparked a public outcry over the way the teenager was falsely implicated in a robbery case and tortured in custody in 2005.

The CBI’s Lucknow office, which was entrusted the probe, submitted a chargesheet in the Dhanbad CBI court yesterday naming DSP Sandhya Rani Mehta for her “irresponsible” handling of the case that led to Manraj Tirkey’s death leading to a spontaneous show of public anger in Bokaro.

CBI investigating officer Prashant Kumar Srivastav’s report, which noted the teenager died at Bokaro General Hospital as his torture in custody proved to be “unbearable”, also blamed two other policemen — officer in-charge of Bokaro sector XII police station Rukhsar Ahmad and assistant sub-inspector Upendra Singh — for his illegal detention and for giving false information that he died due to an incurable disease.

While Ahmad and Singh have been held guilty under sections 323, 343 and 120B, departmental proceedings are to be initiated against Sandhya Rani Mehta.

Based on a series of reports in The Telegraph highlighting the way the police had tortured the teenager and how after his death his parents were pressured to withdraw their case, a PIL was filed in the Ranchi High Court, prompting the judge to order a CBI inquiry.

Six teenagers, including Tirkey, were picked by the Bokaro police on 22 December 2005 from a park for their alleged involvement in a robbery that had taken place the day before at a jewellery shop at the sector XII city market.

The boys, all residents of Gumla colony, were between 10 and 19. And they were ironically pooling in cash — Rs 50 each — to organise a Christmas party when they were taken into custody.

They were kept in custody for nine days and tortured to extract confessions.

When Tirkey was admitted to the hospital, he was bleeding profusely from the mouth, nose and rectum.

He succumbed to his injuries early on New Year’s Day (January 2, 2006, report on left).

The others who had been taken into custody along with Tirkey were Dilip Ram (19), Harendra Kumar (13), Manoj Kumar (10), Isatannis Keiro (17) and Prakash Baraich (15). All along, the Bokaro police maintained the teenagers had indeed committed the robbery on the jewellery shop and that Tirkey suffered from an incurable disease.

But, they failed to explain in court why they were kept in custody for nine days.

Soon after Tirkey’s death, protests broke out in Bokaro and continued for several days forcing the government to first order a CID enquiry. But after the PIL was filed, the court sought a CBI probe.