Five Delhi Police personnel, including a station house officer, were suspended and charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder after a suspected thief died in their custody, The Indian Express reported on Monday. The policemen are believed to have beaten up the victim, a fruit seller, after which he died jumping off the fourth floor of the Adarsh Nagar Police Station.

Sompal, a resident of Azadpur market, had been detained in connection with three cases of theft on December 28. He allegedly attempted to escape after he heard the policemen discussing how to punish him if he did not confess to having committed the crimes. Following Sompal’s death, the officers panicked and informed the SHO, after which the five dumped his body in an isolated part of a park near the police station.

The officers were suspended after Sompal’s relatives approached an assistant commissioner of police seeking an investigation into his death. The relatives claimed that the accused had pushed Sompal off the building. However, Deputy Commissioner of Police MM Dumbere said the policemen claimed the victim had jumped from the terrace “after being left unsupervised for a few minutes”, The Hindu reported. It has yet to be ascertained whether Sompal killed himself or was tortured to death, according to the report.