Bhagalpur, March 16: A suspected Maoist allegedly died this morning following third-degree torture in police custody in Munger. His family members claimed Dharhara cops branded him a rebel to please their higher-ups and brutally tortured him last night.

The victim, 41-year-old Awadhesh Yadav of Bangalwa panchayat under Dharhara block, was arrested with another villager, Ambika Yadav, yesterday evening.

He breathed his last at Munger Sadar hospital this morning around 10.

Yogendra Yadav, a cousin of Awadhesh, said: “He (Awadhesh) was an innocent dahiar (a milk seller). While returning from Jamalpur after delivering milk to his customers, he was arrested along with Ambika. Thereafter, he was tortured.”

The station house officer of Dharhara police station, Bhai Bharat, claimed that Awadhesh and Ambika were arrested on the basis of a tip-off on two Maoists going to Jamalpur to accompany Dinesh Koda, another rebel, to file nomination papers for the panchayat elections.

“We arrested the duo only after getting reliable information. The police recovered a pistol and two live cartridges from Awadhesh,” said Bharat.

The officer also trashed the allegation of torturing Awadhesh. “Awadhesh claimed that he was not feeling well while we were making preparations to produce him in the court. He was immediately rushed to hospital where he died,” Bharat said.

Trashing the claim of the officer, Yogendra accused the police of harassing the relatives of the deceased. He said as soon as the relatives of Awadhesh came to know about his arrest, they rushed to Dharhara police station. The cops allegedly told them that he had been sent to the office of the deputy superintendent of police (headquarters) A.K. Panchlar.

“When the relatives reached the office of Panchlar this morning, they were reverted to the police station. Midway to the police station they learnt that Awadhesh had been hospitalised. By the time we reached the hospital, he was dead,” Yogendra said.

Some of the doctors of Munger sadar hospital, who treated Awadhesh, hinted at severe torture being the probable reason for his death.

“Look at the injury marks on Awadhesh’s body. It appears that he was subjected to third degree torture, which led to his death,” one the treating doctors told The Telegraph.

The medical officer of the hospital, Dr Vijay Kumar, refused to comment on the issue. “Only the postmortem report can give any conclusive reason for his death,” Kumar said.

The post-mortem report was not ready till the filing of this report.

None of the senior officers were available for their comments on the episode. Repeated efforts to contact them proved futile.

Police sources said a high alert had been sounded in Munger district because of simmering tension in Dharhara area following the death of Awadhesh.