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An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of the Madhya Pradesh Police, one of the two officers accused in the custodial death of a tribal man in Guna district, was arrested on Saturday, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer said. The arrest comes days after the Supreme Court reprimanded the Madhya Pradesh government and the CBI for failing to arrest the two police officers in connection with the death of Deva Pardhi, a 25-year-old tribal man arrested in a theft case. Pardhi and his uncle, residents of Bilakhedi village, had been taken into custody on July 14, 2024, just hours before Pardhi’s wedding. He died the same night inside the Myana police station in Guna district, with his family members alleging police brutality. CBI Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Indore, Prashant Shrivastava, told The Hindu that Uttam Singh Kushwaha, then an ASI at Myana police station, was arrested in Indore. Mr. Shrivastava said that Mr. Kushwaha was produced before a court and the CBI obtained his custody for two days. However, the then station incharge, Sanjit Singh Mavai, remains absconding. “We are working to nab him and the teams have already been formed to trace him,” he said. The CBI had earlier arrested two other policemen - Sub-Inspector Devraj Singh Parihar and Inspector Zubair Khan - along with another person in the case. Earlier this week, the agency announced a reward of ₹2 lakh each for information leading to the arrest of Mr. Kushwaha and Mr. Mavai. On Thursday, a Bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan, hearing a petition filed by Pardhi’s mother, observed, “More than four months have passed, and the direction of the court has not been complied with. It appears that you are protecting the officers.” While the police had initially claimed that Pardhi had died of cardiac arrest, his mother subsequently approached the Supreme Court accusing the local police of shielding the accused officers. On May 15, the court transferred the case from the State Police to the CBI, directing the agency to arrest the accused within a month.
