A 27-year-old man hanged himself with a blanket inside lockup at Lalpur police station in Ranchi on Friday morning.
Vikas Lakra, who was arrested around 5.30am on Friday morning by a police patrol team for trying to enter a second floor flat in Lalpur, committed suicide around three hours later.
ASI Dayanand Soren and constable Ramprasad Singh were suspended by SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi for negligence of duty in the wake of this incident at Lalpur thana, a model police station in Ranchi.
A Lalpur labourer, Vikas had been arrested on the basis of an FIR lodged by flat-owner Ramesh Kumar Goyal of Shri Balaji Niketan on Gyanranjan Road in Lalpur.
Police have ruled out any foul play in Vikas's death saying the entire police station, including the lock-up room, is under CCTV surveillance.
City DSP Shambhu Kumar Singh said Vikas tore the blanket to prepare a rope, tied it to the iron bar of the lock-up gate and hanged himself. "Video footage will shed light on the sequence of events," the DSP said. "The deceased had no criminal background but a suicidal tendency," he added.
The deceased's wife Prity, also mother of their five-year old son, said last year Vikas had slashed his wrist.
"He was home in Dhipakocha till 10pm on Thursday. He left around 3.30am on Friday and was arrested around 6.30am. He was an alcoholic but I didn't allow him to drink for two days. He was slightly disturbed because of that. But he was not a thief. I don't know why he strayed into that building," Priti said.
Goyal said he saw a man sitting outside the bathroom window when he opened his balcony gate. "He refused to come down. I spotted a patrol party and informed them."
Lalpur police station OC Ramod Kumar Singh said Vikas had injured himself by smashing the windowpane of the bathroom when the cops reached the spot to arrest him.
"We took him to the Sadar hospital for treatment before taking him to the police station," Singh said.
This is the second case of alleged suicide inside lock-up in the capital. In March 2016, one Gaffar Alam and a minor girl from Godda took poison inside Argora thana lock-up.
