Nigerians protest killing of citizen by police in India

Hundreds of Nigerians in New Delhi, India, on Sunday night protested the killing of a 43-year-old Leonard Lyeanyi by police in the Asian nation.

Lyeanyi died at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital after he was brutalized by the police.

The protestors claimed that the victim died due to police assault, an allegation the police denied.

While the police said the deceased died after sustaining head injury due to a fall, the protesters alleged that Lyeanyi died due to assault by the officers.

The police said in a statement the protesters “created a ruckus and broke glasses at the DDU hospital following the Nigerian’s death.”

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“Initially, they were around 20 to 30 people, but their numbers increased to 100. The mob also attacked the local people and police personnel,” the statement added.

A relation of the deceased, Jose Giddy, said he died after a New Delhi Police personnel hit him with a lathi (a long, heavy iron-bound bamboo stick used as a weapon, especially by police), on his head.

“He lost consciousness and fell to the ground,” Giddy said.

 

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