Maharashtra jeweller detained by Telangana cops dies; kin allege murder

 A jeweller in Nashik allegedly died on Tuesday while he was in the detention of Hyderabad police in connection with a series of thefts in the Telangana capital, with police stating it was a case of suicide and kin claiming it was murder.

Hyderabad police had arrested a man there recently for housebreaking thefts (HBTs) who told them valuables stolen in these incidents were sold to Nashik-based jeweller Bodhu Birari (40), the official said.

"Hyderabad police arrived in Nashik and detained Birari on Monday. They had kept him in a state-run rest house in Gadkari Chowk here before taking him to Telangana. It is alleged Birari jumped off the fourth floor of the rest house and killed himself on Tuesday morning," the Mumbai Naka police station official said.

Meanwhile, relatives of Birari said it was not a case of suicide but murder and asked Nashik police authorities to arrest the Hyderbad police team that had detained him. They protested at the hospital where Birari's body was taken by Mumbai Naka police.

A Nashik District Jewellers Association functionary said its members would keep their shops closed on Wednesday to protest the death and as a mark of solidarity with Birari's family.