Bhopal: A shocking case of custodial assault has emerged from Madhya Pradesh’s capital, Bhopal, where a final-year engineering student — who was a relative of a senior police officer — died allegedly after being beaten by policemen. The 22-year-old student, Udit Gayaki, brother-in-law of Deputy Superintendent of Police Chetan Aglak (posted in Balaghat district), died early Friday following a brutal assault by two constables.
The family has accused the policemen — Santosh Bamaniya and Saurabh Arya — of murder and demanded their immediate arrest. Both constables have been suspended, but no arrest has been made so far.
According to officials, the incident took place around 1:30 am on Friday when Udit and five of his friends were partying in C Sector, Indrapuri. Acting on complaints of loud noise, a police patrol reached the area. Eyewitnesses said Udit panicked on seeing the policemen and ran into a dark alley, where the two constables chased and caught him. Moments later, his friends reportedly heard cries and sounds of beating.
“When we rushed there, we saw Udit’s shirt had been taken off and his body was covered in injury marks, especially on his head and back,” a friend told NDTV. Another friend alleged that the constables demanded ₹10,000 to “settle the matter,” and when Udit refused, they began beating him severely. Udit collapsed soon after the assault and was rushed to AIIMS Bhopal, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
A five-member team of doctors conducted the postmortem at Bhopal’s TIT College, and the procedure was video recorded. The autopsy revealed over a dozen injury marks on Udit’s body — including his shoulders, waist, abdomen, forehead, around the eyes, ears, and the back of his head. The report listed the cause of death as “trauma-induced shock” due to damage to the pancreas, suggesting severe internal injuries caused by blunt force.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 2) Vivek Singh confirmed that a murder case has been registered against the two constables. “The deceased had at least 12 injuries, and his pancreas was ruptured. We are investigating how exactly this injury occurred,” he said.
CCTV footage from the Piplani area shows one policeman hitting Udit with a stick while another holds him. The video has since gone viral on social media, intensifying public outrage.
Udit Gayaki was the son of a government employee and a schoolteacher. His father, Rajkumar Gayaki, said, “My son was innocent. The policemen responsible for this must be arrested and given the harshest punishment.”
The incident has sparked widespread anger across Madhya Pradesh, with many questioning the accountability of the police. Observers note that if such brutality can be inflicted on the relative of a senior officer, the safety of ordinary citizens is in even greater doubt. The state government has promised a transparent probe, but the family insists that justice must not be delayed.