Student Dies By Suicide After Allegedly Being Harassed By Police: 'I Am Depressed'

KEY POINTS

A university student hanged himself after being detained over a case involving his friends
He was allegedly harassed, threatened and tortured during his detainment
Police have denied the claims, and an investigation into the incident was launched

A 21-year-old man in Delhi, India, died by suicide over the weekend after being detained and allegedly tortured by authorities over a robbery case.

The man, identified as university student Suraj Thakur, hanged himself at his home in West Delhi's Hari Nagar area Sunday. It happened hours after Delhi police questioned him about a phone-snatching incident involving his friends, the Indian Express reported.

Authorities allegedly asked Thakur to call the accused, but they also asked him if he, too, was involved in a friend's alleged harassment of girls.

Additionally, police took Thakur's phone without informing his family and "threatened" and "tortured" him during his detainment, Neeraj, his 18-year-old brother, claimed.

Thakur went straight to his room and hanged himself after he was released, added Neeraj.

"I didn’t do anything wrong. I am innocent. My parents’ reputation is at stake. I am depressed. I am committing suicide and I am responsible for this. I won’t blame anyone. No one is responsible for this," Thakur was quoted as saying in a video shared online by his family.

Before his death, Thakur also claimed in his video that he was "harassed" by police, a report by CNN-News18 said.

Police have since denied the allegations and claimed they only called Thakur in for questioning before he was released.

"We were investigating a phone-snatching incident and found that the user of the phone was in contact with Suraj, who used to work at a cloth market. He was called to identify the accused. Based on the inputs, a man named Abhishek was arrested and the snatched phone was recovered. After identification, Suraj left for home," additional deputy commissioner of police for West Delhi Prashant Gautam said.

Thakur was kept in the police station for about 10 minutes, and he was neither threatened nor intimidated, according to a senior police officer.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing and "appropriate legal action" will be taken, Gautam said.

Thakur is survived by his mother, a housewife; his father, a laborer; Neeraj and one more sibling.

If you have thoughts of suicide, confidential help is available for free at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Call 1-800-273-8255. The line is available 24 hours, every day.